Solution
by mastersmith
Summary: Officially discontinued, this story remains for anyone possessed by a morbid curiosity.
1. Chapter 1

Anyone reading this? This is my first fanfic. I decided to write it because I find writing stuff fun. Please read this and review it. If you review it please explain why you liked it or hated or what should have been done differently or whatever. You don't have to but I prefer it that way. That could help me improve the story. Basically this story is about what happens before, during, in between and after the metroid games. It's mostly about Samus but parts of the story focus on other characters. I don't own metroid. I don't own halo or zelda, or tetris or any other video game related stuff either.

Leon, a man of medium height with blonde hair was lugging a heavy toolbox toward a large white building. He had moved to this planet with his wife Samantha and their daughter. He didn't really like this planet.

The gravity was a little too strong and the climate was too hot. The planet was officially named K-2L but most of the inhabitants called it "New Eden". He didn't understand why anyone would call it that. It had only been inhabited for thirty years and was on the frontier of the Galactic Federation.

Because of this fact the planet had not been fully tamed. Monsters roamed into the town frequently and the people were often afflicted with strange diseases.

Leon had only moved to this planet because of his job. He maintained important machinery like terraformers, air filters, and space satellites, all of which are vital for a small colony. He greeted a tall guard at the entrance.

The guard replied, "Stop right there, show me your i.d."

"What? You know me by now."

"Thems' the rules, sorry.", explained the guard. Leon then pulled out a card which the guard scanned with some laser device.

"Have a nice day", said the guard before making a waving motion with his right hand.

"You too.", said Leon.

He walked into the building and went down a long, tiled corridor. Ignoring all the doors and branching hallways, he soon came to an elevator at the end of the corridor. He rode this up several floors and came into a room filled with computers and machinery. A pale, bald man rose from his desk and pointed to a machine in the corner. This important machine showed the data from the watch satellites in orbit around the planet. Basically, it alerted the military officers in the building to any suspicious activity in the solar system. What was really strange was that the back-up machine for if this one broke was also down.

He set to work, inspecting and taking apart the machine. In a matter of minutes he found the problem. He was surprised to find that a wire had been cut. The officers were equally surprised and started talking about things like sabotage. Leon replaced the wire and quickly reassembled the machine. The machine was soon up and running.

Immediately, some blips appeared on the radar screen followed by some messages. A grey haired man in a uniform ran over and looked at the screen.

He said two words, "space pirates!" This got everyone's attention. The workers started making phone calls and the military was put on alert.

Thoughts raced through Leon's mind. Space pirates. Why would they attack a planet like this? There wasn't much there the pirates could want. He suddenly thought of his wife and daughter. He had to be sure they were safe!

He ran to the elevator and was stopped by a general.

"Sir, where are you going?"

"I have to check on my family."

"Sir, there's no way you'll get there fast enough!, the pirates are already in the atmosphere."

"I have to try!"

"Very well, you may go.", said the general giving in. With this, Leon went into the elevator.

Samantha was walking through a sunny field with her young daughter, Samus close behind her.

"Mommy, where are we going?", questioned Samus.

"Nowhere, it's just a nice day to go for a walk."

"But I'm tired."

"O.k. Baby, we can turn back. I'll carry you." Samantha bent over and picked up Samus.

Samus was soon asleep in her arms. It was taking too long to walk home and the sky was getting cloudy. Pretty soon it started raining heavily. Samantha was drenched and took cover under a large, leafy tree. She was sitting there, bummed out when she noticed a hawk in a branch above her.

All of a sudden the hawk opened it's beak and spoke, "Ah, is that your baby Samus, you are covering with your jacket?"

Despite being freaked out she replied, "Yes, but how did you know that?"

"I know lots of things. That is not important though. Your Samus is in danger, you must hide her right away. She is the hope for the future."

"What? Why should I listen to you?", asked Samantha with anger in her voice.

"No time for talking, hide her now! I am serious!", yelled the bird. Samantha suddenly felt a great fear and knew in her heart that she must listen to the bird. Scooping up Samus, she ran with her all the way to another tree. As Samus was struggling and crying, Samantha frantically placed her in the hollow dead tree. She felt her fear pass and stood there catching her breath when she was struck by lightning. She cried out as her entire body burned.

Samantha woke up covered in sweat. Looking around the room, she realized that she had been dreaming. There was a funny feeling she had about the dream. It seemed so real.

"Oh no.", she said when she realized she had slept in. She didn't have much time left before she had to leave for the office and get Samus off to school. She frantically set about getting ready. Samantha went into Samus's room. She looked so peaceful lying there.

"Samus, time to wake up, baby."

"Ah, let me sleep a little longer." "No, I have to get you off to school."

"eh, o.k., Mommy.", agreed Samus but it was clear that she wanted to sleep longer. Samus followed her mother into the kitchen where hermother made her a bowl of Frost O' Chunks. Her favorite cereal.

She was eating her breakfast when she heard what sounded like thunder and the lights went out.

She screamed and her mother comforted her, saying "It's o.k. Babe, the the power just went out that's all. I have some candles around here somewhere."

At this moment Leon burst through the door. He took a second to catch his breath then said, "Space pirates are... about to land. Don't go outside."

"Pirates, here, that's impossible!", proclaimed Samantha.

"I wish that were true." Samantha then saw a hawk perched on top of a chair and screamed.

"What's the problem?", asked Leon, confused.

Then he saw the hawk too, "Huh?, I didn't know this planet had birds." The hawk stared in Samantha's direction and screeched as if it wanted something.

"My dream, we have to hide Samus!", said Samantha.

"What are you talking about?", asked Leon.

"In my dream, the bird told me to hide Samus!"

"I don't get you right now but yeah, we should hide Samus."

"Yeah." Samantha then led her daughter up the stairs and had her hide in the cupboard under the bathroom sink.

Leon came up as well, "Now stay here until we come and get you, honey."

"Uh-huh", answered Samus as she nodded her head. Samantha then kissed Samus.

"It'll be o.k., babe." Then she closed the cupboard. Samantha and Leon headed back down the stairs. The hawk was still perched on the chair.

It then said, "Good.", and disappeared in a puff of feathers!.

"What is going on here?", asked Leon in a fearful voice.

"I'm not sure what's going on either but that bird was in my dream. It told me to hid Samus.", answered Samantha.

"O.k., that's kind of weird..." He was interrupted by sounds on the porch.

He reached in a cabinet and grabbed his beam rifle. He walked over and kissed Samantha before standing next to the door. Leon put a finger to his lips to tell Samantha to be quiet and readjusted his rifle. Without warning the door burst inward and an ugly space pirate resembling an insect ran inward. Leon shot at it, putting a hole in it's chest. The pirate stumbled, then fell on the ground, dead.

He stood there, afraid to move. A grenade then rolled into the house and completely destroyed him. Samantha screamed in horror and began to sob when three pirates stepped through the door. They were incapable of frowning but she could see the hate in their eyes. She ran into the living room but the pirates were close behind. She threw a knife at the pirate in front and it was struck in the face. It quickly recovered and shot her in the leg. She went down hard and tried to get away but the pirate stepped on her back.

She lay there crying and praying when the pirate said in English, "You would like to live, would you not.?"

"Yes, please, take what you want, I need to live."

"Ah, that's too bad." The pirate then plunged its knife into her back and yanked it out at an angle. She then cried out and died.

"Oops", said the pirate. The other two who had been watching laughed. He joined in and they all laughed for the better part of a minute.

"That's enough, we have to get moving. Take anything of value or usefulness. A sad, furry creature pushed a cart into the house and the pirates loaded it with what they found. After a while one of the pirates noticed a family picture hanging on the wall above the stairs. The two humans they just killed and a little girl were eating at a wooden table on some other planet. The ground in the picture was covered with what appeared to be a green carpet. After about ten seconds the pirate realized something. The little girl was probably their daughter and she was probably in this house! He told this to the pirate who killed Samantha.

After a few seconds he replied, "Hm, search the house, kill her!" so that everyone could hear.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Of course it is. Ridley's orders were to kill everyone."

"Oh, I don't want him to eat me." All of the pirates agreed with this. They set to searching for the little girl. The furry creature had been ordered to search the bathroom. He peeked in the trash can. The girl wasn't in there. He turned around a few times and walked over to the cupboard. He opened it and saw the girl, cowering. The girl shrank away from him. He stared at the girl and felt pity. He suddenly had an idea. He didn't have to tell the pirates he found her! They had enslave his people and been mean to him after all. He didn't owe them any favors.

"Don't worry, little girl, I won't hurt you."

She untensed herself a little, "Are you a teddy bear?"

"No, please be quiet, there are bad people who want to hurt you." Samus's eyes widened.

"Did they hurt Mom and Dad? I heard them scream." He paused for a second, unable to bring himself to tell her. Besides, if he told her then she might cry and attract the attention of the pirates.

"They're fine, they got away from the bad people."

"Good, can I pet you."

"Maybe later, I have to go. Now stay in there for as long as you can stand it. The bad people will eventually leave. Don't make any noise."

"Bye, Teddy, thanks." He stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door.

A few minutes later.

"What do you mean you can't find her?", yelled the head pirate in a men acing tone.

"She's not in the house, maybe she escaped.", suggested the pirate.

"Well, she couldn't have gone far. We'll have to search the area surrounding the house!"

"Tel Chr, sir, what if she's at school?", asked the furry creature.

The pirate slapped his forehead, "Should have remembered, the humans always send their children to schools!"

"Wish you thought of that earlier before wasting...", said one pirate before he was interrupted.

"Shut up", yelled the head pirate.

"Sorry, sir."

"Now, let's see, this is a nice amount of stuff.", said the head pirate staring at the cart, "Let's go, General Scrit has requested our help at the warehouse."

"Woohoo", replied both of the other pirates as they hopped over their fallen comrade and ran out the front door. The head pirate and the furry creature followed. While pushing the cart, the furry creature stopped and looked back at the house.

The general saw this and barked, "Hurry up, whelp!" The creature looked away from the house and continued pushing the cart.

Samus sat in the cupboard with her arms wrapped around herself. She heard he parents' screaming and covered her ears. She didn't understand what was happening. Were her parent o.k.? She sat like this, trying not to cry too loudly. A while later she was found by a furry creature. She almost screamed but the creature seemed nice. I looked kind of like a giant teddy bear. It told her that her parents were fine. Her heart leaped at this. The creature left her and told her to wait longer.

Ridley, the space dragon flew over the hopeless city. He spread his wings and glided along effortlessly. He felt so powerful. He had been able to surprise this planet thanks to his friends, the Micks. The Micks were kind of like intelligent mice. They were perfect for chewing wires and sabotaging important equipment such as radar machinery. His army had killed almost the entire population of the planet, about 50,000 people in less than two hours. The planet's army wasn't much to look at. He lost more soldiers to civilians than to the army. He landed on top of a warehouse. Next to the warehouse were several huge space pirate frigates parked on top of houses. The frigates weren't pleasing to the eye. They were all blocky and painted the darkest black imaginable. The prates definitely held the belief that function should come before form.

Sitting on top of a frigate, he patiently waited for the frigates to be loaded with the last of the loot. He felt a sharp pain in his back several times. The dragon turned around and saw several marines shooting at him from behind a bush. He breathed out some fire. They weren't expecting this and screamed right before they were scorched. He entertained himself watching two pirates fighting over the helmets from the dead marines until it was time to leave.

Samus sat in the cupboard for what seemed like hours. She hadn't heard anything in a long time. Maybe the bad people were gone. She finally opened the cabinet. She got out and stretched her sore legs.

"Mommy, Daddy, are you there?" asked Samus hoping for a response. She received none. Building up courage she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Looking into her parents' bedroom she saw that it was trashed and more than half the things in the room were gone.

"Mommy, Daddy?" Why weren't they there? Wouldn't they have come back now that the bad people were gone? She slowly walked down the stairs. Samus stepped into the living room, the gruesome scene hitting her. She ran over to her mother.

"Mommy, what's wrong? Mommy, wake up!" She lifted her mother's arm but it dropped back down on the floor. She shook her mother but she wouldn't move.

Four Chozo were in a ship descending through the atmosphere. They looked in sadness at a screen showing the ruined city below. Space pirates had been there only one hour earlier.

"Shame.", said one of the Chozo.

"The council should have declared war on the disgusting pirates twenty years ago when they were still weak!", shouted one old Chozo with grey feathers, pounding his right fist on the arm of his chair for emphasis.

"Calm down, Hawkoruu!", said another Chozo.

"Fine", said the angry Chozo, unclenching his fists.

"Yes, this is definitely the planet from my vision.", said a young Chozo shaman adorned in jewelry while looking out the window.

The ship soon landed. The Chozo stepped onto the lawn they landed on. They were shocked at the extent of the destruction. Multiple buildings were destroyed and dead bodies were scattered in the streets.

"Are you sure this is the place? I don't see how any child could have survived this.", questioned Hawkoruu.

The Chozo priest looked up and replied, "I am sure of it, we will find the hatchling here." One of the other Chozo pulled a small, beeping device out of a pocket on his robe. The Chozo held the device close to his face.

"There is a small life sign in that direction." stated the Chozo, pointing his feathered hand down one road.

They followed him for a good fifteen minute. The Chozo were losing hope that the life sign was real but then they came upon a house on the outskirts of town. The front door was broken down.

Samus was sitting on the floor next to her father crying. Suddenly she heard noises outside. Her first thought was of the "bad people", and she ran and hid in a closet. She could hear heavy footsteps as she tried to breathe quietly. The footsteps came closer and she hid farther behind some clothes. She could also hear someone speaking in a strange language. She was hoping they would leave when she was discovered by what looked like a giant bird man who had opened the closet. She started screaming as loudly as possible. The other Chozo gathered around.

The shaman stepped forward and stated, "Don't worry, it's fine now."

"Fine!, they're dead!", yelled Samus defiantly.

"They're in a happy place, and will be watching you." Something told Samus these were not bad people.

She got out of the cabinet and looked at the Chozo, "My name is Samus."

"Mine's Sobimoruu.", explained the Chozo shaman.

"Would you come with us. We can give you a new home." Saying this somehow made Samus cry but between her sobs she agreed to go with them. Pretty soon they were in the spaceship and leaving the planet with Samus.


	2. Chapter 2

Samus woke up screaming and threw off the blanket. She looked around the room. A little light showed through the window showing that morning had arrived. A little over six months had passed since the Chozo found her. Since then she had been taken in by a friend of the Shaman named Tobi. She was still plagued with nightmares however. She had since the incident been told that space pirates killed her parents. In Samus's nightmares she saw space pirates repeatedly stabbing her parents.

She would rush to help her parents but she would always be stabbed herself in the chest. It always seemed so horrifically real and when she woke up she could feel a pain in her chest. None of the Chozo believed her though.

Tobi walked into the room with a candle, "What is it, another nightmare, princess?" Samus didn't like the nickname but she let Tobi keep on calling her that.

"Uh-huh, it was even scarier this time."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not really."

"I know what will make you feel better. I can give you a cookie."

"Thank you", said Samus. Tobi left the room and came back shortly. Samus sat up and nibbled on the cookie.

"Is it good?", asked Tobi.

"Yeah, but it's a little stale."

"I did get them a while ago. No one on this planet sells them. Well, you have to to to school in half an hour. I laid out some clothes for you. You should brobably start getting read soon."

"I will, I don't think I'll be falling back to sleep."

"Well, I have to go to work. If you need me for anything press the green button on the talk-box."

"O.k." With that Tobi hugged Samus and left. Samus took her time getting ready for school. She didn't enjoy the Chozo school that much. It was harder than her old school and she never felt like she fit in. The Chozo almost never spoke English and the Translator chip placed in her ear only translated very basic Chozodian. She would eventually have to learn how to speak their language. She left the stone dome shaped building that was her home. She didn't bother to lock the door since Chozo very rarely steal. In fact, the Chozo didn't know much about stealing until they encountered the space pirates.

Samus arrived at the school five minutes late. The school was a glorified, golden colored building. She was scolded for being late by the teacher. Samus took her seat off to the left of the Chozo children. While the Chozo children were working on some project she had to listen to a tutor teaching her to speak and write Chozodian. She could see the Chozo children staring at her. One threw a clump of dirt at her.

She stood up, and pointed, "Did you see that?"

"Yes, now sit down." stated the tutor in a rough voice.

"But."

"No, listen and sit down or I'll tell Tobi. If you have a problem with him then do something about it on your own time."

"Ugh, fine", said Samus angrily as she sat down and pounded on her desk.

"Good", replied the tutor. She could hear the others laughing at her but she chose to ignore them. She got back to work writing down Chozo symbols.

Later on at lunch she was sitting alone as usual. She was finally getting used to Chozo food. When she first moved there the food disgusted her. Today she was having something that reminded her of mashed potatoes. She was halfway done with it when she noticed a Chozo girl sitting across from her. Someone was actually sitting near her!

Samus finally asked, "I'm sorry, but why are you sitting here?"

"What I can't sit here?", asked the Chozo girl in English. This surprised Samus for a moment.

"I'm fine with it, it's just no one sits by me."

"Oh, they're just being stupid. They must not like you because you're human."

"Oh."

"By the way, I'm Nikora. I just moved here from Tallon 4 yesterday. What's your name?"

"I'm Samus. I moved here six months ago from K-2L."

"Oh, I'm sorry . That's the planet the pirates attacked isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Want to talk about something else?", asked Nikora, trying to change the subject.

"Sure", replied Samus.

"So, what's there to do around here?" Samus and Nikora talked like this for a while. Eventually they would have to go to their classes. Samus was still picked on at school but things were much more bearable now that she had a friend to talk to.

"You're getting faster.", commented Hawkoruu as Samus slowed to a stop.

"Does... That mean... I can go home now?", asked Samus in between breaths. She had just finished running laps on a track in the middle of the desert outside Chozodia. She had been going through training for almost two months. One day the shaman Sobimoruu visited her house. He had a talk with Tobi outside and after that Tobi arranged for Samus to go through this rigorous training. It didn't make any sense. She had questioned Tobi about it and he always said something to the effect that the training would build her character. She was a little angry at Tobi about it. It seemed like Tobi was hiding something from her. Ever since she started the training she was perpetually sore.

"No, not yet, I have a surprise today.", answered Hawkoruu.

"Ugh, what is it today?", whined Samus. "Oh, that's not the right attitude.", mocked a voice from behind Samus. She turned around and saw a Chozo boy a little taller than her standing there by a plant resembling a cactus. The feathers on top of his head were dyed purple.

"You will finally get to put that training to the test. Taklon here will challenge you to a match. Take a break first.", said Hawkoruu. Samus's eyes widened with surprise at this.

"What?, do I have to?"

"What, are you afraid?", teased Taklon.

"No, I'm just tired.", said Samus defensively.

"The martial arts are an integral part of your training, Samus.", stated Hawkoruu.

Samus took her time preparing for the fight.

She drank some water and stretched for a bit. Hawkoruu and Taklon were biginning to become impatient when she surprised them by saying, "O.k., I'm ready to fight."

"Good, now you two may start.", stated Hawkoruu before sitting down to watch. Taklon immediately charged at Samus. She easily dodged out of the way and jabbed at his side as he passed. He cried out but quickly recovered. He turned around to face her. She threw a punch but he grabbed her arm and easily tossed her to the side. She caught herself and stopped from falling over. They continued like this for a while. She couldn't seem to be able to land any hits on him. He was too fast. He had been able to hit her several times now.

"What's wrong?, The feeble human girl can't keep up?", mocked Taklon.

"I'm not feeble!", growled Samus, increasing the fury of her attacks.

She took a running leap at him and aimed a chop at his stomache. He quickly ducked and stuck out his right fist. Samus, still in midair from the leap, collided with his fist. His fist caught her right in the upper stomach. She fell down on the ground, the wind knocked out of her and was trying to catch her breath. Taklon quickly had her pinned.

"Give?", asked Taklon.

"No, not to you!" She kicked him off and got back up. She got in a few strikes before he could start blocking again. He suddenly stuck out his foot at the right time and tripped her. She fell, face first in the sand. He quickly had her pinned again.

"Never!"

"Look, I'm sorry I made fun of you. Do you give?"

"I haven't lost yet!", yelled Samus. At this point Hawkoruu intervened.

"Stop it, both of you."

Taklon gout up and bowed to Hawkoruu, "Yes, sir."

"You may leave." Taklon said bye, turned, and started on the path back to Chozodia. Samus was now standing up, wiping the sweat from her face.

"And you. You shouldn't let what others say bother you so much. It could get you in trouble some day. And it's fine to lose sometimes. It was just a friendly match."

"I'm sorry."

"Good, see that you remember what I just said. You may go home."

"Thank you." With that Samus turned and headed home as well. Samus was walking home, replaying the match in her mind. She thought she heard some noises but decided that it must have been her imagination. She heard it again though. Someone was screaming! She ran toward the sound. On the side of the trail Taklon was being attacked by a creature. The creature resembled a giant hairless rat and it kept hissing. Taklon kicked at it's face repeatedly. Eventually it bit his foot and wouldn't let go. Samus's mind raced, trying to think of something she could do. She just froze. She heard Taklon's screams and decided she had to do something. She picked up a large, orange rock, got a running start, and hurled it at the creature.

The rat like beast got knoced off of taklon's back where it had been biting him. Unfortunately the rock also knocked over Taklon who fell over, screaming. The creature got back up and ran straight for Samus. She jumped out of the way but it turned around and latched onto Samus. It started clawing her back. She couldn't reach it as it was attached to her back. It kept biting and clawing. She started feeling weaker and collapsed on the ground from blood loss. The rat creature continued its assault. It was bitin her face now and she didn't have the strength left to move and stop it. She thought she was going to die. However, Taklon had gotten back up. He picked up two rocks, leapt over, and smashed the rat's head between them. He beat it several more times to be sure it was dead.

He sat down next to Samus and said, "Thanks, how you feeling?" Samus then blacked out.

Tobi and Hawkoruu were standing over Samus's hospital bed. She hadn't awakened in the four days since the attack and she only seemed to be getting worse. A chozo doctor was there with them.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do. She got some infection when that sandrat attacked her. Chozo are immune to the disease but apparently this isn't the case with humans. I don't know how to treat it."

"What, you mean there's nothing you can do?", asked Tobi who was almost crying.

"Well, there is an experimental procedure that we can try. We could infuse her with Chozo blood. It's never been tried on a human before. There is a risk it could kill her. There has been some success with other alien races before though."

"Well, why didn't you say so? It's better than watching her die!", said Tobi in a desperat voice.

"Are you sure you want this done on her?"

"Yes, very."

"Well, I have to go discuss this with the other doctors." Then the doctor walked out of the room.

"Look, I'm sorry, I should have walked them home.", apologized Hawkoruu to Tobi.

"That's not necessary. There's no way you could have expected this. We haven't had a sandrat attack here in over 10 years."

"Well, still."

Samus woke up and shook her head. It had now been five days since the attack and she had been through the blood transfusion.

"She's awake!", shouted Hawkoru.

"She is!" replied an ecstatic Tobi after looking over and seeing that Hawkoruu was right.

"I was so worried about you!", said Tobi running over.

"How long was I asleep?", asked Samus.

"Five days. How do you feel?"

"Better than ever actually.", replied Samus staring at the wounds on her arms. They were already almost entirely healed. To everyone's surprise she actually got out of the bed and stood up. Then she ran up to the wall and did a back flip off of it. The doctor walked in at this time.

"Samus! Don't do that. You should be resting."

"I'm sorry but I feel so great. It's strange but I actually feel very strong right now. Can I go home?"

"Absolutely not. We have to run some tests, make sure there's nothing wrong with you."

"Aaaw", whined Samus, disappointed. Tobi and Hawkoruu stayed a while to visit Samus. Hawkoruu eventually left. Soon after Tobi had to leave.

"Well, bye, Samus."

"Bye.", said Samus hugging him.

"Oh, before I go, Taklon told me to give this to you."

"Ooh, a present!" Tobi fished around in a pocket on his robe and pulled out a neclace and handed it to Samus.

"He said thanks for helping him." Samus took the necklace from Tobi's hand and looked at it. It was made of a red string. It had some seashells and turquoise colored pebbles on it.

"Tell him I said thanks too.", said Samus while putting on the necklace and smiling.

"I will. Well, I have to get going."

"Bye." Tobi then left, glad that Samus was o.k.


	3. Chapter 3

Samus had now been on Zebes for almost three years. She was currently training with Taklon. After an exhausting ten minutes Taklon had Samus in a headlock and she agreed to forfeit. Even though the Chozo blood within her had increased her strength, agility, and senses and she had come far in her training she rarely beat Taklon. His fighting skills had improved as well. Other than him she could beat all the other Chozo her age. They both bowed to the other like Hawkoruu taught them and then they took a break. Nikora was there as well. She wasn't big on training and things of that sort so she just watched. Samus had a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Hawkoruu will be fine.", comforted Taklon.

"I know I shouldn't worry so much but isn't he kind of old to be going of to war?"

Nikora took a break from eating her shogor leaves and said, "I've seen him in those tournaments. He can handle himself."

Taklon stepped back in and said, "Yeah, he is old but you have to remember, he's been fighting wars for 60 years, that's a lot of experience."

Meanwhile on Hamar 5, Hawkoruu was instructing some human and Troglodan soldiers on how to use some laser cannons. Troglodans are basically humanoid but are shorter than humans, are purple and have four arms each. Hawkoruu had joined a volunteer Chozo army. The Chozo council would not officially go to war with the space pirates. The council did, however pass a decree that any Chozo who wished to do so had the right to make war on the pirates. Hawkoruu was one of those. He had always been disgusted that the Chozo council did almost nothing against the pirates.

He as one of 50 Chozo warriors stationed on Hamar 5. One of the volunteer army's spies had given him information that space pirates were going to attack the planet in three days. Him and the others had been sent to this planet to warn the inhabitants and aid them in defending themselves against the pirates. He had alread taught the soldiers how to use their borrowed Chozo weapons but decided to go over it with them again before the battle.

"And remember to aim for the front parts of their ships. They're less armored there.", said Hawkoruu, instructing some pilots.

"Got it!", said one while the other two nodded their heads.

"Good." He had a gift for commanding respect among these people. He supposed it was because most of them had never seen a chozo, much less one who was 11 feet tall.

He looked at his watch and saw that the space pirates were due to arrive soon. He walked to the docking bay of the fortress and got into the cockpit of a Chozo mark 9 Avenger. This was an advanced Chozo ship more than capable of stealth and combat. He would be leading the rest of the fleet in this. The plan was to fly the fleet into orbit and keep it hidden behind the planet's moon. When the pirate ships approached they would come out of hiding and launch a surprise attack before the pirates reached the planet. It was soon time to beging the plan. Some soldiers saluted him as he and the rest of the fleet took off with brilliant, blue flames propelling them upward.

Hawkoruu had been sitting in the cramped cockpit of his ship for half an hour. It was pretty boring, sitting there.

He wondered, "Was Sobimoruu right? Is Samus really to me so important to the fate of the Chozo people and the galaxy? He remembered when he went with Sobimoruu to K-2L and rescued Samus from the wreckage. Sobimoruu had been right. There was a little girl on the planet. How she survived,he did not know, unless it really was some kind of destiny. He remembered when he began training Samus. Sobimoruu told him to train Samus well and to make sure she received the same training a Chozo warrior would. He used to be skeptical when it came her ability to keep up with the training but to his surprise Samus was flying through the warrior training faster than most Chozo. She would be a great warrior some day. Hawkoruu's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a siren coming from the control panel. The space pirates were approaching!

Hawkoruu and about 200 others started up their ships and emerged from behind the small moon. Before the pirates had time to react they were already losing ships. The small pirate fighter ships flew out of the frigates and engaged Hawkoruu's fleet in battle. The pirates would lose this battle. That much was sure. The hard part was left to Hawkoruu and ten GF soldiers. It was their job to infiltrate one of the pirate frigates and capture some data. Unfortunately, this data was held by a pirate general. Hawkoruu flew his ship past the pirate fighters and up to the frigate. The hangar was still open since the fighters had just flown out so Hawkoruu was able to fly inside. A large silver colored ship landed, and screeched to a halt behind him. A few seconds later, the hangar gate closed behind them and air was pumped back into the room.

Hawkoruu stepped out of his ship and looked around the hangar. He saw a pirate engineer running for a door on the other side of the room. He aimed carefully and fired a plasma beam. The pirate burst into flames and soon all that was left was a black stain on the floor. Hawkoruu smiled and looked back at the silver ship. Nine Galactic Federation soldiers had stepped out. A tenth soldier was staying in the silver ship. He waved at them and walked over.

"You've already been informed of the plan, let's do this." He interrupted one soldier telling a dirty joke.

"Pay attention, you're more likely to live that way."

The soldier nodded and said the stereotypical "Yes sir!" The soldiers followed him to the far door of the hangar and stopped when Hawkoruu gave them a hand signal.

Hawkoruu shot at the door and it opened. Why, Hawkoruu didn't know but for some reason space pirates almost always designed their doors so that they opened when shot at. He looked inside and saw no pirates.

"It's clear." They all stepped into what appeared to be a laboratory. Hawkoruu was disgusted at the sight. Various creatures were floating in tanks filled with strange liquids. Others were frozen. Sitting on desk was a human skull. Most of the soldiers looked away and one barfed in his helmet.

"Jake, you going to be o.k?", asked one soldier.

"I'll be fine, I just wasn't prepared for anything like this. It's just wrong.", he answered, taking off his helmet.

Hawkoruu said, "Sorry, you humans ready? We have to get going."

"Yeah, answered Jake.

"Good."

Hawkoruu opened another door, "It's clear, oh, no it isn't." He closed the door and backed off. They could hear bullets knocking against the steel door a second after it closed. Hawkoruu shot the pirate stepping through, threw a grenade-like device into the other room and re-closed the door. The GF soldiers were startled by the sound of the explosion in the other room. They could hear pirates screaming for a few seconds before they died. Hawkoruu opened the door and stepped through. Dead pirates and blue colored dust littered the floor. One of the pirates had pulled the alarm switch. An annoying siren was going off and lights all over the ceiling were flashing red. Hawkoruu didn't like it. The lights were hurting his eyes so as they passed through the room he shot at the ceiling to stop the lights.

There were two doors to go through and both of them were locked by huge metal plates covering them.

"Ugh, which way do we go?", asked one soldier with a dumb look on his face. Hawkoruu told him to wait a second and pulled out a small box with a dish and two antennas sticking out of the top. He set this on the floor and it made a humming noise.

"What are you doing?", asked the same soldier.

"Just mapping the ship", answered Hawkoruu, "This wont take long at all." He picked up the device and stared at a map which appeared on it's glowing surface. Beyond this room the frigate became maze-like.

"We will take the door on the left, you two come with me, the rest of you stay here just in case the general tries escaping through here. Stay alert."

"You sure you wont need any more help?", asked one soldier.

"I know what I'm doing."

"Fine then, sir."

"Why must you humans insist on calling me sir?"

"Tradition, sir.", answered another soldier. Hawkoruu laughed to himself.

"Well, let's go." Hawkoruu shot a few missiles and destroyed the door on the left. The two soldiers stepped though with him. They ran down a long, twisting hallway and shot a few pirates who got in their way. Pretty soon, they were at another door. Hawkoruu knocked it off it's hinges with a few missiles. He stepped through and to his anger and surprise the general wsn't there. All the room had was a large chair, several computers, a small pile of gold, and ten very ugly space pirates. The pirates immediately shot him. He was knocked over but he would live because of his Chozo armor. The two soldiers came in behind him and shot down five of the pirates before they died from machine gun fire themselves. Hawkoruu leapt back up and sprayed the room with his flame thrower. Hawkoruu laughed as the pirates ran around the room, engulfed in flames. He stopped himself.

"No, disgusting, I shouldn't laugh. These are intelligent beings. If I let malice into my heart I will become like them.", he shot each of the pirates so their deaths wouldn't be unnecessarily protracted.

The general had to be headed toward the ship so he could escape. This would also lead him through the room where Hawkoruu left the troops. Hawkoruu ran down some more turning hallways. On the way he called his troops. There was no answer. He sighed into the radio and continued running. He shot at pirates as they popped out of adjacent rooms. He soon made it to the room with the soldiers. Hawkoruu was too late. Their bodies were horribly muilated. He couldn't stop to mourn. He had to catch the general before he got off the ship. Hawkoruu looked at a device on his arm. It was blinking red, which meant his armor's power was low. He took off for the hangar.

On the way there Hawkoruu got a call from the soldier watching the silver ship, "The pirates are in the hangar, please send help. I can't hold them off forever!"

"Hang tight, I'll be there soon. In less than a minute, he was running through the hangar. He could see the silver ship. Unfortunately, space pirates had surrounded it. Other pirates were looking for the soldier. The soldier was hiding behind other ships, and occasionally took shots at the pirates. Hawkoruu pulled out a golden colored rifle, looked through the scope and shot laser beams through three pirates. The other pirates around the silver ship scattered and hid behind whatever they could find. One pirate peeked from behind a vessel and pointed at Hawkoruu. Hawkoruu shot a laser through its head. He then realized just in time that the pirates probably knew where he was by now.

He ducked behind a small ship and saw machine gun fire and lasers tear through the floor in the are where he had just been standing. The pirates opened fire on the ship he was standing behind. The ship began looking like swiss cheese and Hawkoruu wondered how long the ship could protect him. The pirates stopped firing because the soldier fired a rocket and obliterated several of them. He tried hiding behind a pillar but before he could move he was torn apart by laser blasts and his ashes were sent flying by the force. Before they could focus on Hawkoruu again he pulled out a blue orb and threw it. The pirates saw it coming but couldn't move fast enough to avoid it. The orb exploded and sent metal shards ripping through their bodies at 500 miles an hour. Hawkoruu saw that not all the pirates were caught in the blast. He quickly charged over and shot two of them. He saw a door closing on one ship. He fired a missile, shattering the door. A very scared pirate general hopped out and tried running. The general turned and shot Hawkoruu. His armor didn't have enough power left to fully protect him and he felt the laser burn into his leg.

He stopped himself from falling and returned fire, hitting the general in his left leg. The general went down. He still tried shooting back but Hawkoruu shot his hand and he dropped the gun. Hawkoruu limped over painfully and stood over the general.

"Wha-what do you want?", stammered the pirate general.

"Oh, nothing more than to ruin your world, the disc, I'll be wanting that too."

"What disc?", said the general faking ignorance. Hawkoruu didn't have time for this. There were still other pirates on the ship and they'd arrive soon.

"You know what I'm talking about.", replied Hawkoruu, pressing his gun against thegeneral's head. The general pulled the disc out of a pocket in his armor.

"Uh, here." Hawkoruu knew it was fake. He could tell in the general's voice and he'd dealt with pirates before.

"The real one!", shouted Hawkoruu, snapping the disc.

"What?, that is real.", lied the general. Hawkoruu punched him in the face, knocking him out. He checked the general's pockets and found a knife, some unidentifiable device, and, aha!, the real disc.

He began limping toward his ship when he got hit by a laser in his side. Space pirates were rapidly filling the hangar! He had to do something quick. He threw down a smoke bomb which would block him from sight for a good 20 seconds. He got back up and entered a pirate fighter ship. It took him a few seconds to figure out how to turn the ship on. He felt the fighter shake as several lasers on it. There was one option left for him. He fired the fighters cannon at the hangar gate. The gate exploded outward and everything in the hangar, all the ships, and all the pirates were sucked out into space. Hawkoruu got to see a hundred pirates flailing their arms madly in the void as if that would help them breathe before he lost consciousness.

Samus and Taklon stood outside the landing area. The landing area was a cement circle on the ground about a quarter of a mile across just outside Chozodia. Samus was looking at the sky, shielding her eyes from the sun, using her left hand.

"There he is!", she pointed and jumped with glee.

"Where, I don't see... oh I see it.", replied Taklon. A red colored ship the size of a house was descending from the sky. They patiently waited as it landed. They ran over to the ship as its door opened. Several chozo stepped through and waved as they passed.

"Where's Hawkoruu?", asked Samus, worried.

"He's in there.", assured Taklon. Hawkoruu stepped through walking with a cane. Samus ran over and hugged him.

"I'm so glad you're back. I was worried.", greeted Samus.

She saw his cane and asked, "What happened?"

"Oh, a pirate got a lucky shot, I'll be fine though."

"How long are you staying?"

"Well, it looks like I'm staying for good. I got discharged. They gave me this though." He held out a gold medal with a tree engraved on one side.

"Oh, that's cool.", said Samus, looking at it.

"Hey, Samus, move your fat head.", said Taklon.

"Oh, sorry." Samus moved allowing Taklon to see the medal.

"Hey that is cool.", said Taklon.

"Yes, it is, well it looks like you two wont be needing a new trainer since I'm back. How about you two show me a good sparring match."

"O.k.", said Taklon.

"I'll beat you this time.", bragged Samus.

"Nuh-uh." Hawkoruu laughed at both of them as they headed toward the training grounds.


	4. Fun

Samus, Taklon, and Nikora were walking around in a scenic area outside the village and talking.Taklon and Samus had just participated in a tournament. Samus had taken second place in the youth division and Taklon had taken first.

"My medal's better. It's bigger than yours.", bragged Taklon.

"Well, mine's shinier.", defended Samus, sticking out her tongue, "Actually, I don't think so." They stopped when they heard Nikora scream behind them. They ran over to her. She was passed out face first on the ground.

"You o.k.?", asked Samus. Two yellow beams hit Samus and Taklon. They both felt weak and collapsed on the ground. The last thing they saw was a Chozo wearing jewelry made from animal bones then they both passed out.

Samus woke up and shook here head to clear her eyes. She tried to get up but couldn't. Looking down, she realized that she was tied to a chair. Taklon was tied in a similar fashion to a chair on the other side of the room. They were inside some kind of stone building. The walls were painted and depicted battles.

"About time you woke up.", said Takon.

"Where are we, what happened?"

"Im' not sure but I think we've been captured by Torizo."

"Tori-what?"

"Torizo, they're a bloodthirsty tribe of chozo. If I am right they will attempt to make us join their tribe."

"Why whould they want us?" An adult chozo entered the room.

"Because you two can be fine warriors."

"And our friend, what did you do with her?", screamed Samus.

"Oh, she was fine last I saw. I left her on Zebes. She has no use as a warrior. But you two. Fine warriors indeed. Fine warriors who deserve to be among the Torizo!"

"I'll never join you!", screamed Samus. The chozo hit her across the face.

"You will join us. They all join eventually."

"Don't you hit her!", shouted Taklon while struggling against his ropes.

"Oh, and what are you going to do? Those ropes are woven from Talloric fibers and I assure you, I am the knot tying champion. You will not escape."

An elderly chozo woman stepped into the room. "Mother, here are the new members. Fine, yes?", said the chozo man.

"Yes, well done. These ones are strong.", she said feeling Taklon's right arm. She took a drin from a cup filled with blood. "let the ceremony begin.", said the elderly chozo.

"What?", protested Samus, "You wont get away with this!" Samus and Taklon struggled futilely as the two chozo pushed them toward a door and outside.

It was a strange sight. Chozo and members of many other species, including humans were dancing around a large bonfire in the night. Samus was surprised. She hadn't seen other humans in such a long time and she definitely didn't expect to see them here. The group numbered at least 200. Standing on top of tree stumps were chozo wearing fierce looking masks and holding large guns with bayonets stuck on the ends. The light of the fire flickered and made them look even more ominous. Samus and Taklon were drawn near to the fire. Some of the tribe had stopped dancing to watch. A human boy and a chozo boy stepped forward, each holding a goblet filled with a red liquid. The elderly chozo woman raised her right hand in the air.

"I, Tadon, dedicate these fine warriors to the Torizo way!"

The multitude responded in unison, "We, the Torizo, accept them into the way. They shall be our own brother and sister. We shall love them. By joining us, their individual spirits will be made stronger, as will our collective spirit, and together we will have fun across the cosmos." Two chozo stepped forward and force open Samus's and Taklon's mouths. Samus was cursing them the whole time. The two carrying the goblets stepped over to Samus and Taklon. She looked over as the red liquid was poured into Taklon's mouth. She was able to close hers.

The boy spoke, "Why do you resist? It is cold outside of our tribe. Can't you see, we have fun." He pointed at the dancers and continued, "We aren't bound by rules. No one tells us what to do. We get to kill. I have been told your story. The pirates killed everything you loved. Join us. You can kill the pirates. Teach them a lesson. We will even help you. Please drink it. Join the fun." Samus shook her head and cried. The chozo behind her pulled on her hair. Surprised, she screamed and the boy poured the cup into her mouth. Whatever was in the cup tasted very good. It was already having an effect on her mind. She had an unnatural desire to swallow it. She tried spitting it out but couldn't. She told herself not to but she did swallow it.

At first she was horrified. Everything seemed to blur. She could feel tingling in all her limbs.

"Do you see now? We have fun.", said the boy but his voice was distorted and deep. Samus looked over to the dancers. She thought of her dead parents. She could get revenge. She could slaughter the pirates, not only the pirates, she wanted kill all who weren't Torizo. She thought of breaking peoples' necks. Fun, fun, fun! A wicked grin spread across her face.

"I want to have fun."

"See.", said the boy.

"Yes, it is all so clear now."

"She has joined us. We are all stronger. None can stop us.", said the elderly chozo. Two young chozo untied her and she stood up. All of the dancers cheered.

The boy said, "Come.", and took her hand. She followed him to a small, furry, blue animal tied to a pole. She knew what to do. She stepped on the animal and listened to it cry. She laughed and contorted her face as she put all of her weight on the animal and killed it. The boy handed her a knife. She gladly took it. Samus then cut the animal. She held it above her head and soaked in its blood and smeared her clothes with it. She followed the boy back to the bonfire and they joined the dance.

The next day Samus and Taklon were walking through the forest, looking for things to kill. It had been hard for Taklon to pretend that he had joined the torizo. He had resisted the brainwashing. He could tell this wasn't the case with Samus and that she actually had joined them.

"Samus, you don't actually want to be Torizo, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I want to go back to Zebes, leave the Torizo, and I want you to come with me." Samus's face contorted and she pulled out a beam gun.

"No, you want to end the fun! Your death will be fun!" Samus's eyes bulged and she aimed her gun. Taklon knocked it out of her hand. This didn't stop her. She let out a primal scream and tackled Taklon to the ground while pulling out a dagger.

"Please, Samus, it's me, we're friends.", said Taklon. Samus was attempting to drive the dagger into Taklon's neck while he had grabbed her wrists and was trying to push her off.

"You aren't with us, I have to kill you.", said Samus, digging the dagger into Taklon's neck but missing the major arteries. He kicked her in the stomache and pushed her off. They both stood up. Samus charged and stabbed him in his left arm. He screamed out but managed to punch her with his right fist. He heard a sickening crack as several of her ribs broke. She fell on the ground and writhed in pain. It hurt Taklon to see her like this.

"Sorry, friend.", said Taklon as he bashed her over the head and knocked her unconscious. He could hear the Torizo approaching. They had been heard. He looked back and forth and saw a cave. He quickly dragged Samus into the cave and hid, ignoring the pain in his left arm.

Hawkoruu was following the ion trail left by a space craft. He pushed his ship as fast as it could go. Someone had taken Taklon and Samus and he promised to find them. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anything happened to them. Samus and Taklon had disappeared the day before. The only clues the chozo could find were a passed out Nikora. When awakened Nikora explained that what appeared to be a torizo shot her with something and she passed out. Hawkoruu quickly got in his old ship and followed the ion trail left by most torizo craft. He had been following it for five hours and was getting increasingly worried. His sigh was interrupted by a beep from the control monitor. He pressed a button and saw an image of the planet he was approaching.

The planet was brown with patches of green, and had purple oceans. Ancient ruins dotted the planet. With a gasp, Hawkoruu realized what planet this was. Chipicul. It was home to some of the most violent torizo. The torizo were also known for their bizarre brainwashing techniques. The ion trail led to a village in the northern part of the planet. Undetected, Hawkoruu set down in the forest outside the village.

Taklon was moving as fast as he could, going deeper into the dark cave. He wasn't sure how he was able to do this while carrying Samus. The torizo searching for them were getting too close. He heard their shouts and when he looked back he saw several beams of light moving along the walls of the cave. At the last moment he dove into a small tunnel and moved deeper into it. A group of five torizo passed without noticing Taklon and Samus. Taklon released his breath and waited a few seconds. He looked down and saw Samus stir.

Before he could think of a plan, Samus woke up and wrapped her hands around his throat.

Taklon, struggling to breathe said, "Fight it, Samus... this isn't you." She blinked a little but didn't let go. Her evil grin returned. Taklon head-butted her and she let go.

"Don't do this. Remember me. I gave you that necklace, and you gave me this scar." Samus's evil grin disappeared and she stopped in the middle of a cackle. She backed away from Taklon while shaking her head. Taklon could see her face returning to normal. She fell against a stalagtite and broke into tears.

Taklon sat down next to her.

"I'm so sorry. I should have fought it harder.", sobbed Samus.

"It's not your fault. Besides, now isn't the time to be sorry. Those torizo are looking for us.", eplained Taklon. Samus nodded in comprehension and stood up. They started moving to leave the cave but stopped when they heard the torizo passing by again. With very bad timing some large insects emerged from the ground and started biting them. Samus and Taklon had to bear the pain and be quiet.

Unfortunately, one of the torizo noticed the tunnel they were hiding in.

"Hey, I didn't notice this on the way in."

"Then check it out.", commanded another torizo. The torizo ducked down and entered the tunnel. At this time a rumbling noise sounded from outside the cave somewhere. Three of the torizo ran off to see what it was. This still left two of them in the cave. The torizo searching the tunnel found Taklon and Samus hiding behind a large rock. They both leaped out and grabbed his legs, pulling him over. Samus dove for the gun and struggled with the torizo over it. The other torizo ran in.

"Hanaka, what's wrong?" He saw what was happening and aimed his gun at Taklon and Samus.

"Stop, you will come with us. We have harsher methods for making people see the truth known by the torizo."

Samus and Taklon stopped resisting and stood there. The torizo they'd been fighting stood back up. He went to tie Samus's and Taklon's hands but never got to. Green lasers hit both of the torizo in the back and killed them instantly. Samus almost screamed but saw Hawkoruu walk in.

"Oh, I am so glad you're here.", exclaimed Taklon.

"So am I, we have to get moving. I set a bomb to distract them but they'll be back soon.", said Hawkoruu. Samus and Taklon followed him out of the cave.

The group saw Hawkoruu's ship sitting in a clearing thirty yards away. A laser came from behind a bush and hit Taklon and was absorbed by his shields.

"Run!", shouted Hawkoruu, firing back at the now visible torizo. It had shields as well and took several shots. The group took off and ran to the ship. Several lasers almost hit Samus. Hawkoruu was the last in and the door slid closed behind him. More torizo showed up and began shooting at the ship. The ship wasn't harmed but it was still very scary to Samus and Taklon as they heard every shot hitting the ship and making it shake. Hawkoruu turned a key while placing his right hand on a scanner. The ship's engines started and they were soon airborne The torizo outside growled in frustration as the ship lifted off the ground and flew away.

As they were waiting to arrive back on Zebes, Samus slumped in her chair, bandaged in several places and deep in thought, ashamed that she had joined the Torizo. Hawkoruu sat down next to her.

"What is wrong, Samus, is it something that happened on the planet." She told him how the torizo had brainwashed her, how she became irrationally violent, and tried killing Taklon.

Hawkoruu said, "It's o.k. now. Besides, there's no way one of your age could be expected to be able to resist the brainwashing entirely. That you were able to regain control is a testament to your will and strength." This made Samus feel a little better.

"Thanks, Hawkoruu, that helps a lot."

"Well, what I said is true." Samus was soon able to stop dwelling on the events of the past few days and take a much needed nap.


	5. trouble

On planet SR388

The chozo scientist surveyed the room, seeing that all was going well. The other scientists had left but he was staying late to check up on things. He walked over to a glass cylinder with a creature hovering inside it. The creature reacted to the shadow cast by his tall figure and rammed the side of the container, screeching. The creature was hungry. The scientist smiled at the creature and observed that it was healthy and was growing nicely. The creature resembled a transparent globe with organs visible inside of it and two curved mandibles protruding from the bottom. The creature was codenamed "metroid", which meant "ultimate warrior". Him and the other scientists had spent five years engineering the creature and they were finally almost finished. He was so proud. This creature would solve all of his planets problems. It would provide cheap, reliable energy to the people and vanquish their enemies. He couldn't be more wrong.

The Motherbrain patiently waited and plotted in cavern in the deepest recesses of Zebes. This Motherbrain was, as it's name suggests, a giant brain. It had recently been awakened from its 3,000 year slumber by an earthquake. It fed, and grew stronger from the psychic brainwaves from the denizens of the surface. The chozo had sealed it under the earth so long ago to stop its diabolical plans. The Motherbrain would have its revenge for their insolence. It reached out with its psychic waves, influencing the minds of the galaxy. It spread corruption and fear among the many peoples. Thanks to its influence the metroids were being developed and many were joining the ranks of its favorite pawns, the space pirates. All was going according to plan. It would just have to wait a few more years, but it did not mind. A few years are as nothing to a being who had been perfecting its scheme for the past eternity.

Maroko and several other Chozo were in a craft headed for Zebes. They had just escaped their planet, SR388. The entire planet had been overrun by these strange, new "metroid" creatures which were created by some scientists. It had been so horrible. Over a hundred metroids escaped from a government laboratory and started latching onto everyone and turning them into ash. The chozo had never encountered anything like this before. Most of their weapons were entirely ineffective. Lasers bounced off of them. Explosions just made them angry. Bullets barely broke their skin. In less than a single day their entire civilization had been destroyed and the survivors had no choice but to flee.

Maroko was joyous to see Zebes on the viewscreen. Surely, they would be taken in there. He looked over at Owlof who was deep in thought. Something wasn't right though. He felt a strange presence and could hear a low humming noise. A metroid flew right over his head and latched onto Owlof's face! Owlof let out a horrific scream as he dug his claws into the metroid, desperate to remove it. Maroko shocked the creature with a stun gun but the electricity had no effect on it. In fact, the electicity seemed to make the metroid happy. The other chozo on the ship were running about trying to find anything that could stop the metroid. There was nothing they could do. The metroid let go of Owlof's face. All that was left of him was ash and dust still in the shape of his body. The metroid rammed into him and he crumbled entirely.

Maroko ran into another room and locked the door. One of the other chozo pounded on the door.

"Please, for ancestor's sake, don't leave me out here!" Maroko didn't answer. He was too afraid to open the door. The metroid might fly in. He fell against the wall and tried to block out the sound of the other chozo dying just outside the door. He was so ashamed of himself, but what could he possibly do against such a creature? It was better that he survive than no one survive. He sat against the door, his eyes closed, trying not to think. It had to all be a nightmare. Things like this surely couldn't be in a sane universe. Startled, he opened his eyes. He heard clanking noises and they were getting louder. He pressed his ear against a wall, listening for the noise.

"Yes!", he thought to himself, "A rescue team, someone has noticed our distress and is boarding the ship to save me!" Maroko then heard something metallic hit the floor next to him and looked over. Unfortunate for him, he had been wrong. There was no rescue team. The metroid had gone through the ventilation shaft and had just broken through into this room. He shrieked in terror and ran into a corner. He swung his fists madly as the metroid neared him and missed.

The hungry beast clamped it's jaws around his head and proceeded to drain his very life force. He had never felt such pain before. It felt like someone was jabbing him with a thousand needles while tearing his head off. He clawed frantically at the creature, but to no avail. He felt himself weakening and everything was soon dark. His arms went limp and dropped. The metroid, now full and satisfied settled down on a desk to take a nap. Before it could fall asleep however, the ship crashed into the surface of Zebes and was instantly destroyed, the debris scattered over several miles.


	6. trials

Sobimoruu, the shaman behind the rescuing of Samus stood before the chozo council. He stared at the massive golden pillars covered with ancient texts and plucked a few of his feathers. The council was taking their time talking amongst themselves.

Finally, one addressed Sobimoruu, "Yes, we have come to a decision." Sobimoruu looked up.

"Well, let's hear it."

"We do not believe it is wise for one so young to become a warrior. And as for your belief that Samus is the chozo savior, a human cannot fill such a role, we have someone else in mind."

"But the pirate attacks are becoming so frequent! And she wants to help."

One of the council members cut him off, "Silence, we did not say she could not go through with the warrior ritual, we merely said we do not think it wise. We normally would not allow this but with the constant pirate attacks and the destruction of SR388 by the metroids we need all the help we can get."

"Thank you very much, you've made the right decision."

"I hope so, is that all you wanted to ask? There are others wishing to speak with us."

"Yes, that's all, farewell, and ancestors smile on you."

"Same on you and have a nice day." Sobimoruu turned around and exited the grand building, passing the line that had been standing behind him.

Samus went over the message she just typed.

Dear Taklon,

How's your day been? It's not fair that you get to be a warrior already. Well, Sobimoruu is seeing the council about me becoming a warrior. Hopefully I'll be up there with you soon. I've just been so bored here lately. I hear so much about the pirates. I want to help in any way I can. Tobi's says he's worried about me. He says I'm good at cooking and should become a chef. I never really thought so. Since the school closed down I've had a lot of time. I've been hanging out with Nikora a lot. Well, stay safe.

Love,

Samus

Samus sent the message to the space station up in orbit. Taklon was staying there and fighting against the pirates that kept trying to reach the planet.

She was thinking of something to escape boredom when she heard Tobi call, "Samus, come here, Sobimoruu has come back." Samus leapt from her seat and headed for the front door hoping she would get to become a warrior. Sobimoruu was sitting at the table, Tobi pouring him something to drink.

"Hello, Samus.", greeted Sobimoruu."

"Hello, what's the news?", replied Samus nearly hopping up and down.

"You can go through with the warrior ritual."

"Really!"

"Yes, really, the ship is ready and waiting."

"Oh, thank you, I'll never forget this."

Samus ran over and hugged Tobi, "Bye, I'll be safe."

"Come back soon."

"I will, bye." Samus ran out the door and toward the small ship in the front yard.

Samus was on the ship heading toward some planet where the warrior ritual would be held.

"I know I'm supposed to meet some chozo ghosts and they'll make me a warrior but I still don't know much about this ritual.", said Samus to the captain.

"There isn't much to tell. The ritual is different for everyone. There's always some trial but the ancestors decide on a different trial for each person. For some it's easy, for others it's hard."

"Oh, that cleared things up a little I guess."

"Good, because we're here."

"Wow, already."

"Yup." The captain pulled a lever and the floor beneath Samus disappeared. She had been told she would be dropped off in this manner but it still caught her off guard.

She fell through the atmosphere of the planet, screaming. Her ears were popping and her face felt like it was being torn off by the wind. She closed her eyes to stop the stinging. She fell for a few minutes. All of a sudden she felt a jerk when her parachute automatically deployed. Soon her jet pack ignited slowing her down farther and she landed gently on the ground, feet first. She opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. She was in the middle of a seemingly peaceful forest, with the sounds of various birds filling the air. She removed the parachute and the now burnt out jet pack. Samus then realized that she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

Samus looked down and to her amazement a steel box was laying on the ground. She could have sworn it wasn't there before. Warily, she opened the box. There was a laser pistol, a rock, and a stick inside and she felt she would need them so she grabbed them and put them in her backpack. There was also a letter telling her to reach the top of a mountain to the north. Samus could walk fast and figured this would be easy for her. She could see the mountain in the distance and took off.

After two hours of walking she was very tired and leaned against a tree. The gravity on this planet seemed to be about twice as strong as on Zebes. She noticed this from the start but she didn't think it would be such a problem. By now, she could barely move her legs. She was so drained but she would not give up. She promised herself she would beat whatever challenges lay on this planet. She was soon asleep. Samus woke up after what felt like several hours. She looked up and saw that the sun had barely moved at all. Perhaps she hadn't slept so long. She felt a little better anyway. Samus was startled by a rustling in some bushes some distance away from her.

She slowly walked over to the bush to find that there was nothing there. There were some broken branches however. Suddenly, she heard a snarl from behind her and she ducked just in time as a strange beast flew right over her head. The creature landed several yards from her and turned to face her. This was one of the most hideous animals Samus had ever seen. It had four legs which were triple jointed, a long tail with spikes on the end, was covered in greasy hair and had tusks with eyes on them. The animal leapt again and Samus shot at it with her laser pistol and dodged its attack. The animal was seriously wounded with a gaping hole in its side but it did not stop. It shook off the pain and charged Samus again. Samus shot it three more times. The creature skidded to a stop but one of it's tusks still cut into Samus's right arm. Samus had killed it. Her arm stung so badly though. She kicked the creature to be sure it was dead and was about to rest when she heard more snarling noises. It sounded like there were at least five more of them headed for her.

She took off, running as fast as she could, unable to see the creatures because of the snarling. No matter how long she ran she couldn't lose them. Samus was beginning to slow down, her legs about to give out and various plants cutting her as she passed. She screamed and came to a stop at the edge of a cliff. The ground just ended and there was a seventy foot drop-off with a harsh looking river below. Samus whipped around and saw the pack of wild animals crawling out of the foliage. She shot madly and killed two of them while backing up. One of the creatures leapt at her. She backed up but felt herself losing her footing. She slipped on some moss, and fell off the cliff, her feet scraping against the rock. After falling for what felt like forever she hit the water hard and started sinking. Samus kicked back up to the surface but found herself pulled back and forth in the white water, crashing into the occasional rock. She struggled to the edge of the river and washed up on the bank.

She lay there for some time catching her breath. Eventually she tried standing up but pain seared through her left leg and she collapsed back on the ground. She could tell her leg was broken. She wasn't going anywhere in her condition and decided to rest. Maybe the pain would subside a little. Hopefully the creatures wouldn't be able to reach her.

Samus was sitting in a comfortable chair at home, sipping a lemonade. She was very aware that she was dreaming. She did not care. If she woke up she would just be in pain again. She was thinking of how it was such a nice day when she was interupted by a squeaky voice. She set down her lemonade and shook her head.

She heard it again, "Samus, pay attention, I'm talking to you." She looked down, and there, swimming in her lemonade was a tiny, transparent chozo. Samus screamed and knocked the lemonade over. She heard the voice right next to her ear. The chozo was standing on her shoulder!

"You need to wake up Samus or you will never become a warrior."

"I don't care any more! If it's that hard I should just stay put and wait for someone to rescue me."

"Don't be this way. You're stronger than that and you know it."

"No, I change my mind. I don't want to be a chozo warrior. Tobi's right. I'd make a good chef."

"Shut up and listen, being a chef will not help you become the savior of the chozo."

"Hm, Sobimoruu talks like that. He's crazy though."

"No, it is you who have gone crazy, you who have betrayed what you are meant to be. If you do not go through with this the universe may be destroyed."

"What are you talking about?", asked Samus, freaked out.

"Prophecies were written about the chozo savior. You are the only one who can fill that role."

"But I'm human. Oh, fine, I'll wake up. I can't have peace in my own dream so I might as well."

"That's right", said the tiny chozo, making wide gestures with its arms.

There was a flash of light and when it cleared the chozo was giant and Samus was standing in its hand blinking. She was pretty confused at this point. The hand wrapped around Samus and closed. She shouted and tried squirming out of the giant hand but it was closed to tightly. She felt some movement and then was thrown through the air, flying an incredible distance. She saw the ground rushing toward her and she almost hit when the dream stopped and she woke up.

Samus cleared the sleep from her eyes and sat up.

"That was a weird dream.", she said to herself. She decided that she would not give up despite the hardship. Her leg felt better but she still couldn't walk on it that well. Over the course of half an hour she gathered some branches and various plants and made a splint for her leg. She limped on toward the mountain again and prayed that she wouldn't run into more trouble since she lost all of her weapons when she fell off the cliff.

Samus had been heading toward the top of the mountain for five days now. She knew the days were pretty long compared to the days on Zebes but she didn't know how long, exactly. With her chozo blood it took two days for her leg to heal. She estimated that she had been on the planet for for three standard or earth weeks now. She hoped that she would reach the top soon. The isolation was playing tricks on her mind and she hadn't eaten in a while. It was hard getting up the mountain. Sometimes she would be stuck for what seemed like hours, unable to find a way to climb farther up without falling. She was fairly close to the peak now though. She was almost there and excitement filled her as she pulled herself up and onto the very top of the mountain. There was a problem however.

A space pirate was standing there staring down at her. The pirate reached for its gun while Samus stood up. She rolled to the side and a bullet grazed her arm. She thrusted with a spear she had made some time ago and shoved it through the pirate's chest. It fell over and made strange noises, dropping its gun. Samus stood over it, smiling but she couldn't bring herself to kill it. She didn't understand why she couldn't kill it. The pirates had killed her parents after all. She guessed it was the way it seemed so helpless. The pirate did not have the same feelings. It leapt to its feet and swung at Samus with its scythe, leaving a nasty cut on her stomach. Samus swung her spear at it hard. The pirate lost its balance, and fell off, tumbling down the side of the mountain. Relieved that the situation was over Samus rested and inspected her wounds.

She was surprised when the air about her began to glow blue. A multitude of chozo ghosts appeared before her. She was awestruck and just sat there with her mouth open. The chozo ghosts were all rather tall, and adorned in jewelry. There had to be at least 500 of them. Some of them were floating in the space around the mountain. Samus just stared until one spoke. The one speaking was a transparent blue and had a crown.

"Well, done, child, you have passed the test and deserve to be called a chozo warrior. There is a great destiny in you."

"Uh, thanks.", said Samus unable to think of much else.

"As a very special warrior you get special equipment. This is a power suit, the same as the ones worn by many other chozo warriors throughout time. This particular suit has a history. It has been worn by the greatest chozo heroes throughout the millenia. It has been updated to keep up with the times and modified so it may fit you of course." Several ghosts came forward and handed Samus the individual pieces of the suit. The ghosts bearing the suit bowed and floated away. Samus donned the armor piece by piece except for the helmet. It was easier to see without it. She looked at the cannon on her right arm. The suit did have a powerful feeling about it.

Samus spoke, "Thanks, but how do I use this?"

"Do not worry, you will figure it out. It will be second nature to you."

"How do I get home?"

"Do not bother yourself with the details. We will send you where you need to be."

"What's that mean."

"Perhaps I should show you." The crowned chozo lifted his arms and Samus felt a strange sensation as she was teleported across over 500 light years in less than five seconds. The sensation passed and she could see again. She was aboard a space station of some sort.

"See, amazing, yes?", reverberated a voice in her mind.


	7. loss

Samus had been aboard the chozo ship, "Justice" for five months now. Things were pretty boring as the space pirates hadn't attacked in three weeks. Everyone was still on their toes because the pirates would obviously return. It wasn't their style to just give up, even if they were losing horribly.

Taklon was currently playing some chozo board game with one of the other warriors while Samus watched. They were all wearing their battle armor which was kind of uncomfortable but no one ever took off their armor except to shower. The pirates could strike at any time.

Placing a stone piece resembling a jewel encrusted lizard in the corner of the board, Taklon boasted, "I win. I told you I would."

"What, how did you, oh I see.", mumbled the other chozo.

Samus walked over and said, "my turn." They were all interrupted by a siren. The intercom turned on with a click.

"Everyone, I mean everyone get to your designated stations now!", announced a voice over the inter com. Samus looked up at a display on the wall. It showed thousands of pirate ships headed straight for them. Samus and Taklon ran for the briefing room where they'd be told what to do next. The other guy ran for the room that housed the turret controls. They ran into the room and automatically stood in their preordained spots. A chozo general stood in front of them with a nervous look on his face. Several others were with him.

"Uh, units one through ten will stay and defend this ship, units 11 through 15 go to docking bay 2 to leave and reinforce the other ships, units 16 through 18 will go to docking bay 3 and leave for that particularly large pirate ship, and 19 and 20 will join the pilots and fight off those approaching ships. I trust all of you can do this, go."

All of the soldiers filed out of the room towards their designated locations, talking amongst themselves. A pirate attack of this size was pretty surprising as it was unknown that the pirates had this many ships. Samus and Taklon were part of the group heading for the pirate mother ship. They were soon aboard a cloaked carrier which would take them there.

Samus sat down on a bench and thought of the situation. She just didn't see how they could win this. Despite the technological advantage the chozo had there were just too many pirates. She heard others sitting near her express similar concerns. An officer told them to stop worrying and be quiet.

"Don't worry so much, we'll be fine.", said Taklon in a low voice.

"I hope so. It doesn't look good.", replied Samus.

"These pirates are too stupid to accomplish anything. They'll just get headaches and go home."

This made Samus smile, "Yeah." The whole room shook as they collided with the pirate mother ship. This was supposed to happen but was still unnerving. Machinery outside the carrier cut into the ship, and created a doorway through. Samus and everyone else charged out and surprised some pirates. The pirates in the room were quickly eliminated. All was not well, however.

Clenching his fist, the commander yelled into the radio on his arm, "I thought we were supposed to have backup, where are they?"

He listened to the radio for a few minutes and responded, "Morons." He looked about the room and saw that he only had 30 people.

"Well, it appears the reinforcements were needed elsewhere at the last possible moment. Change of plans, we will not be taking over the ship. We will make our way to the control room, set off a self-destruct and run back toward the carrier.", said the commander to the confused warriors. At this moment over a hundred pirates began rushing into the room from multiple directions. Chaos ensued and it was hard to tell exactly what was happening. Samus ducked a glowing energy scythe and shot a missile into a pirate's head. Before she could turn around another pirate shot her in the back. She blocked the pain and rolled int a morph ball. She weaved in and out under the pirates legs, confusing it, then laid several bombs. She unrolled to see the pirate explode.

"I did not need to see that.", she thought to herself. The smoke soon cleared. She had never seen this many bodies before. Everywhere, dead pirates littered the area, their green blood coating the steel floor. There were also two dead chozo.

"Move it!", shouted the commander, setting a bomb which would go off should any pirates enter the room while they were gone. Everyone waited while the officer threw a power bomb into the next room, clearing out any pirates and then filed in. They went like this for some time clearing one room at a time, heading for the controls. They were down to five people which definitely wasn't good. The large shielded door blocking the control room didn't help either. They kept shooting at it slowly wearing it down. The occasional pirate would come along and interrupt them.

Finally the door broke open! Unfortunately the room was occupied. A pirate threw some grenade which killed the commander and one other warrior. Upon seeing this another warrior ran out the door and fled. Samus and Taklon shook their heads and shot the pirate and several others that popped out from behind a box.

"Let's do this.", said Taklon. Samus nodded and set to work setting the self destruct. The visor translated the controls but it was still hard to figure them out. It took her a few minutes but she got the self-destruct set off. A siren went off and a voice counting down in the pirate language could be heard. They had a little over three minutes to escape. They quickly ran into some pirates and had to take them out.

"We need a way out where we wont be interrupted by pirates constantly.", yelled Taklon over the noise. Samus noticed a ventilation shaft running along the ceiling.

"According to the map data that leads pretty close to where the carrier was left.", said Samus, pointing.

"O.k. then." Samus shot a hole in some grating and they both pulled themselves up into the shaft and rolled up into morph balls. They had to bomb their way through a fan but they were quickly out and pretty close to where they started. Taklon shot at the door but it wouldn't open.

"That's just awesome, the room is locked off for whatever reason. We'll have to find another way."

They both headed for the docking bay since there was the possibility some ship were still there. There was only one left and a pirate was headed for it. Taklon shot it several times and they entered the ship. It was for carrying some kind of cargo. There were numerous boxes bolted down to the floor. This made Samus nervous. There was no telling what might be hiding in there. Samus found the controls and set a course for the Justice. The ship shook as it took off but Samus thought she heard something else.

"Did you hear that?", asked Samus.

Taklon answered, "What, the ship thrusters?"

"No, like a scraping noise."

"I didn't hear anything. You're probably just jumpy. It happens after battles."

Taklon leaned against a box and at that moment, a spiked tail shot out of it and wrapped around his neck. Samus gasped and began shooting at the tail. In frustration, the tail hurled Taklon against the room and into a steel box. Suddenly the box burst open and a strange beast was revealed. It resembled a purple dragon. Before Taklon got back up, the dragon flew and landed on top of him hard. Taklon stopped moving.

"No!", cried Samus, unleashing a missile into the dragon's face. The dragon was knocked back a little and its head bent at an odd angle but it quickly recovered. It regained its footing and popped its neck which made a noise as loud as a shotgun blast. The dragon charged at Samus but slipped when everything started shaking. A shockwave passed through the ship and both Samus and the dragon were knocked over. Heavy, almost crushing boxes slid into them.

"My ship! You'll die for that.", yelled the dragon standing back up. The dragon began inhaling and then released a steady stream of fire. Samus halfway dodged it and her left arm was badly burned. Samus then fired like mad at the dragon, hitting its face. The dragon let loose another blast of fire. Samus jumped over it this time and the fire melted a cage filled with some small animals.

"Who are you? Any other human would have died by now.", questioned the dragon.

"You first", replied Samus firing a missile which the dragon easily dodged.

"Fine then, I am Ridley, grand commander of the space pirates."

"So, grand commander of basically nothing.", retorted Samus. As planned, this made Ridley angry. He did not like things like this pointed out. He charged at Samus and she jumped out of the way. She quickly turned and fired multiple missiles into him. He fell over, apparently dead. Samus rushed over to Taklon to check on him. She put her fingers to his neck feeling his pulse. She felt nothing. Desperate she tried again, still nothing. It sunk in that Taklon was dead and she let out a cry of anguish. It was so hard to believe. Why was it that the pirates took everyone from her?

Samus looked over at the cursed dragon and saw that Ridley had moved a little. He was not as dead as she previously thought. She fired a missile but Ridley ducked and the missile hit the wall. Unfortunately the ship was already weakened from their fighting and this created a large hole. First Ridley, and then Samus and all the other contents of the ship were sucked into the vacuum of space.

At first Samus was worried that she would die but then realized that her suit would keep her alive. At least that Ridley monster would die. Samus looked over to the planet Zebes. She saw all the chozo and pirate fleets combating eachother. She realized then how bleak the situation was. The pirate fleet was so huge. They had to outnumber the chozo at least a hundred to one. Samus was stuck helplessly drifting through space, watching her friends slowly lose. She continued drifting for what seemed like forever. She would fall in and out of sleep and she saw the planet make several rotations and still she floated there. She stopped looking when she saw the last of the chozo ships destroyed and the pirates began descending upon the planet. Once more, everything she loved was destroyed.

Samus wondered if Tobi or any other chozo escaped. This hope helped sustain her as she floated through space. She continued floating and she began to despair as she floated farther and farther from the planet. Soon the planet was the size of a marble in her vision. She began wondering. Wouldn't it be better if she just removed her helmet and died quickly. She couldn't bring herself to do it though.


	8. decisions

Michaels, a slightly obese man of about 40 years of age sat at the controls, swiveling about in his chair while reading a magazine filled with pictures of fancy cars and scantly clad women. It was pretty boring to pilot a reconnaissance ship. His job basically consisted of setting a course for a particular planet, waiting to arrive, then waiting while Jeremy performed a scan of the planet, and then heading back. He was heading to Zebes with some Galactic Federation soldiers. For whatever reason the Galactic Federation lost contact with the chozo on Zebes and sent them to check up on things. With a whirring noise, the ship's warp drive kicked into reverse and the ship slowed down. A blinking light alerted Michaels that they had reached Zebes.

"Finally", he muttered to himself.

"Hey, Jeremy we're there.", he yelled into the other room. He sat back down in his seat and waited.

"Yeah, I'm coming.", replied Jeremy, who dropped a screwdriver and entered the pilot cabin. He sat down a few feet from Michaels and typed some commands into the computer. The steel shutters covering the windshield made some creaking noises and opened. Jeremy gasped.

"What's up now?", asked Michaels, looking up from his magazine, "Oh, wow, that's not good." There was debris from countless destroyed ships orbiting the planet. There were also numerous and fully functional pirate ships. It looked like a ring circling the planet.

"Yeah, I might want to do this kind of fast so the pirates don't notice us.", said Jeremy while he pressed a few keys and started scanning the area.

A few minutes later he began reading the results out loud, "Over three thousand pirate vessels of various sizes. Surface images and scans indicate that the chozo are all... dead. What, that's impossible!"

"That's messed up, man.", replied Michaels.

"Wait, what's this?", asked Jeremy pointing to the next line, "a distress beacon."

"Well, where is it? We might be able to do something about it."

"About 807 miles behind us."

"More specific."

"Um, quadrant ZE7 dash 44..."

"Slow down.", interrupted Michaels.

Jeremy, losing his temper, yelled, "It's right there on the screen, moron!"

"Okay, then.", said Michaels, unsure how to respond, while setting a course for the displayed coordinates.

Ten minutes later

Bob muttered to himself inside his helmet. No one could hear him but it still made him feel better. He had been sent to bring the mysterious figure into the spaceship. They weren't even sure the figure was still alive! This was probably just another waste of his time. He was currently floating towards the figure with a tether attached to his back. After all this time, floating through space still scared him.

"I should just get another job. I've been here, what, four years and I'm still the gopher. Promotion, my butt.", he said to himself. He reached the mysterious figure and grabbed his arm. He looked at the person. This was very strange. A human child in chozo battle armor. Just when he thought he'd seen everything. The armor was painted a shiny golden color with some red thrown in. He looked into the visor. He could barely see a pair of closed eyes. He could not tell if the person was dead or merely unconscious. Holding onto the left arm, he tugged on the tether and they were both reeled back into the ship. The gate closed and locked behind him after he collided with a wall. Shortly after, gravity was returned and air was pumped back into the room.

He removed his helmet and drew in several deep breaths relieved that he was no longer surrounded by the potentially deadly blackness. A door whooshed open and Amanda, the ship doctor walked in, pushing a stretcher.

"Is he still alive?", asked Amanda.

"I don't know. I can't really tell."

Amanda reached down and fumbled around a bit with the stranger's helmet. She found a latch, and the helmet popped off. The face of a blonde haired girl, possibly sixteen years old was revealed.

"What's a little girl doing in armor like that?", asked Bob.

Feeling the girl's neck for a pulse, Amanda said, "Well, she's alive. Doesn't look good but she's alive. Help me get her on this stretcher."

"That's amazing." Bob Grabbed the girl's feet and together they hoisted her onto the stretcher and rolled her into the medical room.

Samus woke up and was immediately startled by her surroundings. She looked around and saw that she was in a hospital or some place like that. The rooms, the bed, everything was painted a boring white color. She was in some kind of bed without her power suit and there was a man and a woman talking quietly several feet from her. She tore out an iv. attached to her arm which then started bleeding.

"Oh, no, don't do that.", said the woman, almost horrified.

"Where am I? I want to know right now.", demanded Samus, angry and confused.

"I'm Doctor Chang and this is Bob. You're on a federation reconnaissance ship. We found you floating in space above Zebes.", explained Amanda, hoping this would calm Samus. Bob simply nodded while looking at his hand. He tried to stay out of situations like this.

Slightly calmer, but still confused and distressed, Samus replied, " My name's Samus but did you rescue any of the chozo?", while sitting up.

"No, I'm sorry, you were the only one we found." Samus began crying. She didn't want to believe it but inside she knew it to be true.

Amanda sat down next to her, "It'll be fine, Samus." Samus pushed her away. Amanda and Bob got the message and left her alone since they figured she wanted to be by herself.

Samus had been on the reconnaissance ship for four days now. She had been told that they were headed for a planet named Albus 3 and that they would be arriving in a week. Amanda and Bob seemed like nice people but she still didn't like them that much. She was unhappy with some of the things they had to say. According to Amanda Samus would probably be adopted out to some family. She didn't like the sound of that. Her new parents would probably just be killed again like the last two times. And by chozo standards she was a warrior and thus also an adult.

Currently, Samus had her ear pressed against a wooden door and was listening to the conversation on the other side.

"Yes, we've already contacted the adoption agencies.", came Amanda's voice.

Samus heard the captain's voice say, "Good, do you have that suit she was wearing still?"

"Yes, why?"

"Some scientists have requested it. They said something about studying its great potential."

"That makes sense."

Samus lifted her head from the door. This made her so angry. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. They wanted to take away her power-suit. It was a sacred gift from the chozo ancestors and one of the few things she had to remember her loved ones by. Samus knew then what she had to do. There was no way she was going to let any of this happen. She had to get off this ship. Lucky for her she knew where her suit was kept.

Samus walked down the hallway and was quickly upon the storage room. There was a lock on the door however. Samus thought for a moment. She got a running leap at the door and kicked the lock. She saw that the lock bent but didn't quite break. She did this several more times when the commotion drew the attention of a janitor.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Samus dealt a swift kick in the groin and then raised both fists and cracked the man in the head. He fell to the ground unconscious. Samus then got back to work, breaking the lock. The lock finally splintered and broke. Samus pulled the door open and walked in. The storage room was basically a giant freezer. Shivering, Samus looked about for her power suit. She flung some boxes of fish sticks to the side and found it.

Suddenly behind her, the door swung open. She looked back and saw Bob and Jeremy both standing, silhouetted by the light in the hallway, and pointing stun guns. Frowning, Samus touched the shoulder of the power suit. The suit glowed and all the pieces began hovering and then they quickly flew onto Samus's body covering her. Their stun shots merely bounced off of her.

"Why are you doing this Samus? It doesn't make sense.", asked Bob, concerned.

"I've heard you people talking. You all have plans for me and my armor. I do not have time for being adopted. I have things I must do. As for my suit, it is sacred and no scientists will filth it up with their "research.""

Bob nodded and dropped his gun, "I understand perfectly. I hate my job anyway."

Jeremy gave him a look that said, "You gotta be crazy." While he was doing this Samus ran and plowed through him and into the hallway.

Samus smiled as she ran down the halls of the ship plowing through all who tried to stop her. It gave her some kind of satisfaction. She soon came to the escape pod. Captain Michaels was standing there with two soldiers.

"Sorry, we gotta have that suit." They opened fire on Samus She dodged two lasers but the third hit her stomach and knocked her over. It only caused minimal damage. She back-flipped off the ground, grabbed Michael's arm with her left hand then brought her cannon on top of it, breaking his arm. Michaels sank to the ground, cradling his arm while the soldiers exchanged nervous glances.

"May, I pass, mighty one?", asked Samus mocking him.

"Mm-hm", nodded Michaels meekly.

"That's what I thought.", said Samus stepping into the escape pod, the door closing behind her.

"Great, beaten by a little girl, they'll fire me for sure this time.", thought Michaels to himself as Amanda entered and began inspecting his arm. There was a low rumble as the escape pod separated from the ship and took off.


	9. scum

Ridley inspected a wound on his right wing. It had scabbed over and was just now healing. That cursed human had given it to him. Well, he had the last laugh. He killed the human and all of its chozo friends.

"Good riddance.", he thought to himself. The chozo acted all mystical and crzazy. They shouldn't have meddled with the pirates. They even had the nerve to laugh and prophecy about some avenging hunter who would kill the pirates while Ridley was executing them. What a bunch of loons. Ridley smiled, showing his sharp teeth. Seeing his teeth scared the pirates into working faster. All of this was all thanks to the mother brain. It had communicated with him in his dreams and told him how to defeat the chozo. It told him the weaknesses of their ships, where there fortresses were located, everything necessary for taking Zebes.

Ridley watched as the pirates and captured slaves of various races dug onward. They were in a dark cavern several miles below the chozo temple. He looked at the green glowing fungus which served as their source of light. He could tell that they were nearing the glorious mother brain. It's psychic presence in his mind continued to grow stronger. Finally a slave made a grunting noise and one last swing of a pickaxe and the cavern wall collapsed.

This revealed a giant brain with a single eye located in front and tentacles spreading into the rock. The brain pulsated and an electrical current ran through it. It communicated telepathically with Ridley and the others present. All of them heard the clear voice in their minds simultaneously.

"I am Chr-Tagol-magnorif but the passing of time calls for a new name. All of you will call me mother -brain. It is by my guidance you have triumphed and you shall pay me by making me your new leader. I will lead you into the new age and together we will bring wonderful control and peace to the universe." Ridley bowed and closed his eyes. Speaking telepathically through the mother brain all the others heard his message. "Bow now and accept the new leader."

One by one the pirates and slaves bowed before the beast. Except one.

One pirate stood up and declared, "Can't any of you feel it, this isn't right." Most of those present knew that he was right. They could feel something wrong about the mother brain but because of fear or greed or whatever motivated them none spoke. They just continued bowing.

Ridley agreed with the brain telepathically. There could be no mercy for such people. They would merely hinder the coming peace.

Ridley announced for all to hear, "Lord mother brain, I present to you, your first meal in a long time." The other pirates rose from bowing and chased after the unfaithful one. He ran but they soon caught up with him. Ridley watched with glee as they dragged him, screaming before the mother brain. The others let him go but he could not move. The mother brain sent horrible messages into his mind, depicting ways he could die. He froze and this gave the mother brain its opportunity. It pulled one of its tentacles loose from the floor sending rocks flying through the air. It then wrapped its slimy tentacle around the pirate and then his head.

His mouth hanged open trying to scream but he couldn't. The air was being squeezed out of him. The end of the tentacle covered his entire head and then glowed. He felt excruciating pain and then died as his mind was absorbed. The mother brain withdrew its tentacle revealing that the pirate's head had been melted off. The other pirates, slaves, and even Ridley shook and the brain could feel their fear but they did not express their fear in words.

"Good", the brain thought to itself, "Fear is very effective against such beings."

Samus strolled down the dusty road, looking about. Several people stared at her but didn't say anything. They probably didn't get very many people wearing armor in these parts or something like that. She saw man and woman holding hands. She supposed that she should be interested in boys at her age. At any rate, the way her life was currently going a romantic relationship would not fit in with her lifestyle. She stopped at the door of a dilapidated shack. The paint was peeling and there were several cracked windows. She had been looking for a job and several people had said the man here was seeking the services of someone skilled in combat which Samus happened to be. She really needed this job. The escape pod was not meant to last and had broken down. Piece of junk. Without a ship and a job Samus was stuck on this planet without a way off. She had been there for two weeks and had managed to kill some small animals for food. She wasn't sure if the animals belonged to anyone however.

Samus knocked several times and there was no answer. She knocked again.

"Hey, anyone in there?", yelled Samus, peeking in a window. Finally the door opened. Surprisingly, a troglodan wearing a suit and tie stepped out.

"Yes?", replied the troglodan man.

"I heard you need someone who can fight."

"Aren't you a tad short to be a bounty hunter?", asked the troglodan, scratching his head.

"Taller than you, and I'm not here for games. I want a job.", replied Samus, slightly agitated.

"Okay then. Come inside."

Samus followed him inside, mumbling when her right foot collapsed part of the man's wooden porch.

"Sit down, sit down.", said the troglodan taking a seat at a small table. Samus sat down across from him.

"I must warn you, this is a dangerous job. The police wont even do anything about it.", explained the troglodan with a mouthful of bread.

"I'm still listening."

"Okay, there's this new gang been going around. The Toru Gaborun. You heard of them?"

"No, I'm still somewhat new here."

"Oh, I see, well, some rogue pirates landed outside town a few weeks ago."

"Did you say pirates?"

"Yes, I did, let me finish, please. They joined up with this other gang and busted some guys out of prison. Suddenly there's this huge gang going around terrorizing the town. They even burned down my house. Bas..."

Samus cut him off, "So, what do you want me to do?"

"I want them gone. I don't care how you do it, kill them, rough them up, persuade them to leave, whatever. I just don't want to see their ugly faces anymore."

"I can manage that.", replied Samus, "Where are they?"

"Yeah, they'd probably be in the tavern or in their ship this time of day. Or they could be about, causing problems. So you can do it?"

"Yes, but first about my pay."

"Oh, that's all been arranged. 300 federation credits sound good?

"Hm, a thousand, I need to buy a ship."

"Five hundred, I'm sure some of the gang members got money on them."

Samus thought for a moment and said, "Deal."

"Yes!", exclaimed the troglodan.

"I'll be back after I'm done."

"Wow, you're sure of yourself."

Samus didn't reply. She just stood up and left.

Samus calmly entered the tavern. She quickly surveyed the room. She could smell the beer and stale food through her visor. Most of the tavern was empty save several booths in one corner. The people seated there didn't look so nice. They were all armed, the humans had unkempt facial hair, and they all had strange scars on their left arms. There were five pirates, three human men, a trogladan, and several beings whose species Samus couldn't identify.

A human waitress finished filling their mugs. One of the humans grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back.

"Hey girl, how bout you head back to our place after we leave? We can have some fun."

"No, I'd rather not.", said the waitress trying to pull herself away.

"Yo, no one says no to the Doug!", hollered one pirate.

"Yeah, no one says no to me.", said Doug, trying to pull the waitress into a kiss. Samus was disgusted. She couldn't remember any humans acting this way when she lived with them as a child. She walked over and stood over the table, glaring at the gang. All of the gangsters stopped what they were doing when they noticed Samus. Doug let go of the waitress who promptly ran away and ducked behind a counter.

"What do you want to start something?", asked Doug, eyeing Samus's arm cannon.

"I will give you a chance. Leave this planet and don't come back."

"Ooh, and what you going to do? That funky helmet must be choking off your brain." The other gangsters snickered."

"If you do not leave your ashes will.", said Samus in an apparently calm voice.

"You will regret your bad jokes." Doug stood up followed by the other gangsters. They all readied their weapons. Samus let them act first. As soon as Doug pulled the trigger Samus ducked into a morphball, and dozens of lasers and bullets whizzed over her. She laid several morphalls. They saw this and scattered away from it. She unrolled and shot at two pirates first. She wanted to make sure the pirates died. As far as she was concerned the pirates deserved whatever they got. She laughed maniacally as her power beam shots ripped through them. However, she made the mistake of not paying attention to the humans. Multiple shots hit her and she was knocked over.

"Perhaps I'm in over my head.", she thought to herself as she rolled into a morphball and hid behind an overturned table. She heard them running toward her. She quickly uncurled, jumped up, and shot several missiles into them. One human and one troglodan were all that were left. They exchanged glances and ran for the exit.

"Pft", said Samus as she shot at the heads of the pirate bodies. Before she left she saw the waitress and the bartender come up from behind the counter. They were obviously traumatized.

"It's done.", said Samus to the troglodan.

"Really. Do you have any proof though?"

Samus opened a paper bag and dumped out boots, necklaces, and other various clothing articles from the gangsters.

"Is that proof."

"Awesome, I'll be right back."

The troglodan rummaged through a termite-infested desk for several seconds, throwing out the occasional piece of junk and spraying the termites with some poison. Termites had been accidentally transported by humans throughout the galaxy and were now the most widespread insects in the known universe. He finally pulled out a wad of purple paper.

"There you go, 500 credits, pleasure doing business with you.", said the troglodan, handing Samus the money. Samus stared at the money in her hand for a while. It was different from chozo money which was all digital.

"Thanks."

"Oh, and if I ever need another job done, I'll get a hold of you. Anyone who can get rid of those guys has to be good." Samus waved and exited through the creaking screen door while counting her new money.

A few hours later.

Samus looked up at the huge, glowing sign.

It read, "Crazy Burt's used Starships" Below that it read in smaller letters, "lowest prices of any other place near here. She walked on in through the gate, considering the spaceships she saw before her. There were hundreds of them in all sizes parked throughout the dusty clearing. She passed a family of small crustaceans looking at one and making clicking noises. Samus almost tripped over a short creature wearing a cloak.

"See anything your interested in?", asked the creature in a high-pitched voice.

"Are you Crazy Burt?"

"No, but I run the place while he's away. Say, you're the guy who nabbed those nasty toru whatsem gangsters, you might like to buy a..."

"I need a cheap ship that still works."

"Oh-ho, they all work, I assure you.", said the creature, bouncing up and down.

"I doubt that for some reason." This made the creature make a sound Samus interpreted as a laugh. This was going to take a while.

Several hours later.

The ship touched down and Samus climbed out of the hatch.

She hopped down and said, "I'll buy it."

"Ooh yes, very well.", replied the same creature. It whipped out some paper work from under it's cloak and handed it to Samus. After a few more minutes the ship officially belonged to Samus. She was nearly broke again though. She got in the ship and flew off into the sunset. The ship shook a bit and the flames propelling sputtered occasionally but the creature told her that it had at least another five thousand light years in it.

"Another satisfied customer!", shouted the creature. It did a dance, watching Samus's ship disappear into the distance.


	10. invitation

Samus was busy chopping up some sort of stinky, purple plant. She had been on this planet for a month and had recently gotten a job working at a restaurant. It was a strange planet. For some unknown reason all the cities were carved into the sides of cliffs. She knew a month was too long. Someone would find her here sooner or later. She had been moving from planet to planet for two years now, narrowly avoiding capture. Samus wasn't in her power suit of course. The power suit would give her away and all of the hunters after her were hired to retrieve the power-suit for research. She was currently wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a cap that read, "Happy Food". She had also dyed her hair black just to be safe. Not being recognized and blending in was a must.

She sprinkled some spices onto the purple plant and stuck it into a a small oven, sitting in the corner of the room. Samus felt someone watching her. She looked up and saw a very tall man wearing a sombrero staring right at her. He quickly looked away and started reading a menu. Samus shook her head.

"He's just a customer, I'm too worried right now.", she thought to herself.

An hour later.

Samus was walking along on a rope bridge spanning the chasm on the way to her apartment. She was thinking of how peaceful things were here. It was almost as peaceful as Zebes before the pirates attacked. Suddenly an explosion rocked the bridge behind her. The ropes snapped and the bridge began to fall. Samus ran and leapt, narrowly avoiding a long fall. She pulled herself up onto a platform made of wooden planks. The whole city was made up of these wooden platforms built into the cliff walls, interconnected by bridges.

Samus ran to her right, not knowing where the attack was coming from. She weaved in between the crowds of people and various creatures. She knew that she would have to leave the planet now. They knew where she was now. Hopefully she could lose her attacker and reach her ship. She was struck by something in the back and a horrible shock passed through her body. She was knocked over face first and convulsed a few times. Seeing this and not wanting to be a part of it, the crowd dispersed. Samus struggled onto her feet as she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She rapidly turned around and saw her attacker.

It was the same man as earlier except now he was wearing black armor over most of his body and was carrying a large gun with a glowing, green tip, and jagged bits poking out of it. The man was at least 8 feet tall! Samus narrowly dodged the butt of his gun as he swung it at her. For a man so large, he was surprisingly fast. She pulled back her arm and then punched him hard in the knee, making him stumble. With a quick swipe the man grabbed Samus by her hair and hoisted her up, holding her in front of him. She tried kicking at him but her legs wouldn't reach.

"Where is the power-suit, tell me now and my hirers will be much more merciful.", stated the man in a deep voice.

"Never!", refused Samus. The man punched her hard in the stomach with his armored fist. Samus gasped, trying to regain her breath. She had to do something fast. With one quick motion she pulled a knife out of her pants pocket and slashed at the hand holding her. The man let go and screamed, holding his injured hand." Samus ran backwards a bit and touched a medallion she had attached to her necklace. This summoned the pieces of her powersuit. The pieces glowed, levitated and then all joined onto her body. The armor glinted in the sunlight. The man's mouth dropped in amazement at the situation.

Samus shot a missile at the man's head. With his unharmed hand he actually caught the missile and tossed it back at Samus. She narrowly avoided the explosion. What was up with this guy? The man pulled out his gun and swept a blue beam over the area. Samus ducked and released a charged power beam into his stomach. The man was knocked over and began to leap to his feet. As he did so Samus leapt, her metallic feet pounding on top of the man, knocking him back down. The man lay there with Samus's foot on his chest, pinning him down. Samus was charging her beam.

"If you must kill me please do so without your helmet. I want to see your pretty face one more time.", said the man.

"The nerve of him!", thought Samus to herself as she punched the man's face with her left fist.

"I want answers. Who sent you? The federation monkeys, the zerosians, someone else?"

The man laughed, and then said, "O.k., you win. My name's Mambosa. I was sent by the federation to test you."

"What?", said Samus who was curious as to what he meant.

"Since you beat me, the federation has a proposition for you. The higher-ups figure it's just too much trouble to capture your suit. They've realized that one of your skill would be a great asset. They basically want to hire you into the special forces, "The Beta squad". If you agree then the federation will stop sending hunters after you and give you a nice sum of money." Samus lifted her foot off of him and let him stand up but kept her cannon aimed at him.

"How do I know it isn't a trap?"

"Good point. That is why you will meet with the Beta squad at the location of your choice."

"I don't think I want to join. The federation's never done anything for me.", said Samus.

"Very well, here's the number if you change your mind. And you have two months before the federation starts hunting you again. So long.", explained Mambosa handing Samus a slip of paper. He then jumped off of the platform and landed on top of a ship waiting there for him, before taking off.

"Pfft, show off.", mumbled Samus to herself. Samus looked at the piece of paper. She had said she didn't want to join. It seriously intrigued her though. She could use the money and she wouldn't have to run anymore. Samus would have to spend some time contemplating this.


	11. initiation

**To anybody who actually reads this. Sorry if this chapter is stupid or something. I wasn't really sure where to go with the story at this point. I don't quite remember what I was thinking when I wrote this chapter. Maybe if the chapter is stupid that'll get me some negative reviews. Actually, I'd be happy with any reviews, positive or negative. Oh, and I'd like to thank the two people who have been nice enough to review this. They are named phazon and alleycat1312. I hereby congratulate them with the ranks of Review Master and Great Grammatical Helper respectively. If it wasn't for them I would have given up on this story long ago.**

Samus again looked at the time displayed on her visor. They were three minutes late. Samus had called and agreed to join the beta squad. It sounded kind of interesting and it would be nice to have the federation off her back. Samus shifted her weight to the other leg and continued staring around her. She was standing next to a table in the middle of a restaurant named, "Squalak's Bar and Grill". She saw some armored people enter the restaurant. When she waved they ignored her. They were the wrong people.

Samus sighed inside her helmet then she saw another group enter through the revolving door. She recognized Mambosa.

"I'm over here.", shouted Samus. The group walked over and sat down at the table. Samus could see several of them looking at her with curiosity.

"So, you are the Samus, the new recruit?", asked one being through a pair of mandibles.

"Yes I am. Hurry up before I change my mind."

"Yes, well, you've made a good choice. From what I've heard you don't need any training so we should be able to get started right away.", said an old man, picking at a mole. Samus didn't reply. There was an awkward silence and then a waitress came to their table. The old man offered to pay for everyone and they ordered their food.

"So how is it that you came to be in so much trouble with the federation?", asked the old man, "I have not been told."

"They just wanted my suit that badly.", answered Samus.

Several of the people at the table shook their heads when they heard this.

"I am sorry to hear this", replied the old man.

"Yes, the federation did a similar thing to me, said a tall being wearing a gas mask, "The federation conquered my planet in a war. They gave me the choices of joining their special forces or death. This called for craftiness. Sure, I joined, but one day I will make sure that the men behind this will get what they deserve."

Samus was surprised, "You're allowed to say things like that?", asked Samus.

"Yes", said the old man, "what happens in the beta squad stays with the beta squad. Most of us, including myself have been scorned by the federation government. We merely put up with the federation until the day comes we will be able to pay them back." Samus began to think these people weren't so bad. They were actually like her in a way.

"Well, this isn't what I expected. I was thinking all of you would hate me.", said Samus.

"We understand how you feel, my name's James", said the old man, extending his hand. Samus shook it. She then shook the hands of the others who introduced themselves as Gothan, Tamluk-xan, Adam, Balag, and Shamaz. Mambosa did not introduce himself as he had already met Samus. He simply said hi. James, Adam, Mambosa, and Shamaz were humans. Tamluk-xan was the cloaked being wearing a gas mask. Gothan was an insectoid being and Balag resembled a sasquatch with a mechanical arm. The waitress arrived with their food and smiled.

"Well, you folks look like you're up to something."

"What if we are?", grunted Tamluk-xan.

"Just don't break anything."

"He's just joking. We're simply here to discuss some important manners.", explained James.

The waitress nodded, "Well, I'll leave you alone, call if you need refills or anything.", before walking away. Everyone at the table began eating except for Tamluk-xan who, strangely, absorbed the food through his hands. This made Samus stare but she decided it was a topic best avoided.

They all went about eating their food and talked about various things until they were done. James stood up, implying that it was time to leave.

"Yo, we can't leave yet! We haven't properly initiated Samus.", observed Mambosa. The others who were still sitting rambled in agreement. Samus's eyes widened. She didn't like the sound of this.

James sat back down in his chair, complaining, "Why must you people always do this?" Balag looked over to Samus and saw the nervous look on her face. She had taken off her helmet to eat.

"Do not worry, it's not that bad. You'll live.", said Balag, in a mocking voice.

"Is this initiation some kind of ritual?" asked Samus, curiously. Everyone excluding James laughed.

"Yeah, something like that.", said Balag.

"Hey.. uh.. Melissa!" shouted Shamaz to the waitress, reading her name tag.

She walked over. "Yes."

"Can you get us a big bottle of that Telrusian ale?, the hard stuff, We don't want it watered down."

"Are you sure?", asked Melissa, "That stuff''s pretty strong I hear."

"We're sure."

"If you say so."

Samus glanced at the grinning faces of her new comrades. Well, the ones with faces she could see.

"This Telrusia ale sounds alcoholic." She had never had alcohol before. The chozo never drank anything alcoholic. They didn't have anything against it. Alcohol was just never popular with them.

"Oho, it's alcoholic alright. It's a special alcohol made from war wasp honey. Illegal on 35 planets.", said Shamaz, making wide gestures with his arms. Samus gulped.

"It's not dangerous, is it?"

"Don't worry, you'll live, you'll just regret it in the morning." Samus wasn't so sure about this. She had seen the effects of alcohol on some people she had killed in a bar once.

The waitress arrived carrying a large, dark bottle, bigger than her head, "Here you go. Be responsible." She quickly walked away.

Everyone at the table began to chant, "Drink, drink, drink!", staring at Samus. Tamluk-xan popped the top off of the bottle and poured some out into a glass. Samus saw the strange green color of the liguid pouring into the glass. It was the most bubbly drink she had ever seen. Tamluk scooted the drink in front of Samus.

"I'm not sure about this.", protested Samus.

"Go on, you can do it!", shouted Shamaz. Similar encouragements were heard from the others. Samus reluctantly lifted the glass to her lips. The bubbles tickled. She took a small sip and immediately sprayed it out on the spectators. They seemed to expect this. It was horrifically bitter. This was the most disgusting tasting thing Samus had ever tasted, but then it wasn't made for its taste. People from several other tables had joined to watch. Upon hearing the spectators cheer again Samus raised the glass and took another sip.

She managed to keep from spitting it out and swallowed it. The liquid hit her stomach like a rock and Samus leaned forward a bit. Several people clapped and then began a new chant, "Chug it, chug it." Samus slowly emptied more of the drink into her mouth. What was this? Her vision began to blur and she felt tired.

"What, I can't see, ugh, where's the cup, yeah, there it is.", thought Samus to herself. She missed her mouth and spilled some of the ale on her face. She got it right a second time. She finished almost the entire glass and then fell over in her chair and dropped it. She gripped the edge of the table and pulled herself back up, grinning. Everyone cheered.

"You've done it, you've really done it. You're an official member.", congratulated Balag.

"Thash good right. I can have the cake now?", asked Samus with a glazed look in her eyes. Her face then went pale and she barfed right on the table before passing out on the floor.

Shamaz shook his head, "Oh, that's not attractive at all." The waitress glared at them and then walked off into the kitchen.

8 hours later

Samus's eyes opened and she looked at the ceiling and then her surroundings. She was laying in a cot on some kind of ship. She was still wearing her power suit without her helmet. Her helmet was sitting on a small table across the room next to several books and a pistol. Oh, she had such a horrible headache.

"I am never doing that again.", she mumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. Adam stepped into the room, "She's awake." Soon the rest of the beta squad entered as well.

"Ugh, where am I?", asked Samus in a drowsy, disgusted voice.

"You're in our ship. We had to carry your heavy self down here. That armor didn't help.", explained Shamaz in an irritated voice.

"Sorry. I'm never getting drunk again."

"Oh, but it was amazing! I've never seen anyone drink that much of the stuff."

"No."

"Well, there's no doubt you're one of us now.", said Adam. Balag and James said some things but Samus ignored them.

"Please just let me sleep a little longer." They understood how she felt and left her in peace. She fell asleep thinking about how this probably wasn't what Sobimoruu had in mind when he said she would fulfill a prophecy.


	12. mission

"So, Samus, haven't seen you in a while. You feel like a sparring match?" Samus looked up and saw Taklon, the sun glinting off his beak.

"Taklon, I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Well, I'm right here. I see you've been doing well considering your circumstances."

"Not really. I was chased by the federation for two years straight."

"That's what I meant.", said Taklon with a chuckle, "I see you're still strong. Of course I am still stronger."

"Oh, well, I'm up for a match. Just like the old days. Wow, I sound old."

"Well, you've been through more hardship in your 18 years than most people go through in their lives."

"Samus!"

Samus was awakened from her daydream by James's shouting. This upset her. It was such a nice daydream. It wasn't filled with the usual deaths of everyone she knew. Samus and the rest of the beta squad were on their ship headed for a planet called Altus. Altus was known for being where many of the illegal drugs in the region were grown. It had been a long trip. They had been in space for three days now.

"Samus. We've arrived."

"I know. I know." Samus stood up and flexed her cannon arm. She followed the grey haired man out into another room. The others had put away the pizza they were eating and donned their armor.

"I take it everyone remembers their part?" asked James.

"Uh, can we go over it again?", replied Tamluk-xan, laughing. James glared at him.

"Just kidding."

"Let's move."

Samus and the others filed out of the ship and into a forest. They nodded and then split up. Their mission was to cripple a farm used for growing illegal substances. The third largest on the planet. Samus was to help Mambosa and Tamluk-xan destroy the main warehouse where the drugs were stockpiled. The warehouse was expected to be well guarded.

Samus and the other two in her group crouched and made their way through the forest. There were some strange multicolored flowers growing under a tree. Mambosa moved to pick one.

"Don't", warned Tamluk.

"Oh, are they bad?"

"Very."

They soon came to where the forest abruptly halted and turned into a field of blue colored stalks. In the distance a large structure sprayed with grafiti could be seen.

Mambosa started to say something to Samus.

"Sh, we don't want to blow our cover just yet.", said Tamluk, quieting Mambosa. Samus watched as Tamluk set up his sniper rifle and aimed at some guards in front of the warehouse. The rifle made a noise resembling a fart and then a thin blue beam shot out into the distance. With three quick shots Tamluk took out the guards. Most of the field workers scattered in every direction.

"Now.", commanded Tamluk. The three then ran out into the blue field. Samus ran, charging her beam, the stalks whipping against her. She quickly ran into trouble. She dove out into a path in the field. Right there was standing three armed men. They all shot at her.

Samus managed to dodge the first shot but the other two hit her and knocked her backward. The men began to descend upon Samus. She rolled out of the way and Swept her feet under two of them knocking them over. She leapt back to her feet and shot them before they could stand. The third man shot her in the back of the head.

She cried out and spun. She let loose a missile. The man dodged the deadly projectile and dove into the field. Samus felt a rumbling behind her. She leapt up ward and splatted against a twenty foot tall tractor moving at a hundred miles an hour. At least she didn't get run over. She grabbed onto the grilling on the front and stopped herself from falling off. Samus straightened her back and it popped painfully. She looked ahead of her and saw that the tractor was approaching a large tree fast. She would be flattened like a pancake! She swore in the chozo language and propelled herself up the front of the tractor using her hands.

Samus pulled herself up on top of the hood, to the surprise of the people inside the tractor. A bearded man pointed at her and the driver, a strange being with spikes on it's arms and a shell on it's back stepped on the brake pedal. It was too late and the tractor collided with the tree. The first tree wasn't enough to stop it and the hulking vehicle plowed through five more trees. The rapid decrease in speed sent Samus hurtling through the air.

She flew right into a large tree leaving a human shaped imprint then sliding down the side of the tree. Samus stood up and came to her senses just in time. She narrowly ducked to avoid a rocket which went on to obliterate a shack. A posse was emerging from the fields and by the looks on their faces and the sharp implements they carried they meant to kill Samus.

Samus unloaded her missiles into the crowd. She smiled when the first twenty people of the posse exploded. She aimed to fire more missiles and to her dismay none came out. There was only a clicking noise. Another of the beings with a shell on its back took this opportunity to strike. It let out a squealing noise and launched a rocket at Samus. She didn't have time to dodge it. Right before the rocket was about to impact her abdomen it exploded sending hot shards of metal into Samus's suit. Samus was thrown backward back into the field. She crawled some distance and then rolled into a morphball. It was hard to stay rolled up in a ball like that when she hurt so much. Her entire body ached. She was sure at least several of her bones were cracked. She moved away from the approaching voices.

Samus quieted her heavy breathing as the posse came closer. She couldn't see them through the tall plants. She knew they were nearby. She rapidly shot her beam into the direction she heard the voices from. This mowed down the plants in the area. Several people screamed as they were hit. Samus could see the area around her. There was one man left. He lifted his rifle to fire but Samus was too quick for him. She threw her grapple beam and it latched onto the man's head, the static force shocking him. He yelled and tried to run away but Samus didn't let him. She yanked her left arm to the side and the man's neck snapped with a sick noise. He slumped over dead.

Samus let out a maniacal cackle. She then put her hand over her mouth. She was disgusted with herself.

"I can't believe I did that. I was taught better than this. And that man didn't deserve that.", Samus thought to herself. She pushed her reflections to the back of her mind and ran once she heard more people approaching. She bent her right arm behind her and fired as she went.

Samus slowly outran and lost the pursuers and came upon the warehouse. She could hear Mambosa and Tamluk involved in a fight inside. Her eyes fell on a rack pushed up against a wall containing at least 20 GF helmets. The words, "Feds, go home" was spray-painted above the rack in pink letters.

Without warning a swarm of birds erupted through the door from the warehouse. Samus ducked. She realized that these weren't normal birds. They were over two feet across and carried weapons in their tallons. Samus shot a the flock and several of the birds exploded. Samus was pelted with bloody feathers. Samus wasn't able to dodge the birds as they swooped at her. Some shot her with lasers. Others flew into her carrying spears. If Samus didn't act quickly the birds would finish her.

She didn't like doing this but she had no options left.

Out loud she uttered the chozo word for overload, "Tathodol". This set her arm cannon to discharge an insane amount of energy at once. As she uttered the word she ducked and slid under the flock of birds and then fired.

A brilliant golden light erupted from her arm and would have blinded her if her visor didn't automatically darken. The brilliant light erupted upward and engulfed everything above her. The light faded and the white ashes of the birds floated down on top of Samus. The light even destroyed some branches of a tree hanging above her. Samus let out a sigh of relief. Unfortunately this attack overloaded and overheated the arm cannon. It wouldn't be operational for at least two hours while the suit's nanomachines repaired it.

Samus sat up but immediately fell back to the concrete floor from an intense pain in her abdomen. Samus lifted her head and saw a spear stuck in her upper stomach through the armor. To her surprise and discomfort she noticed another pair of spears stuck in her right leg above the knee. The only way they could have been stuck through her armor like that was if her shields were down. She looked at the hud on her visor and this was confirmed. This wasn't good. If she took much more damage her suit could shut down and become a dead weight or explode.

Samus slowly sat back up and clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. She grabbed the wooden shaft of the spear in her stomache and quickly yanked it out with a grunt. It wasn't in far enough to hit any organs but it still hurt like hell. She did the same with the two spears in her leg and tossed them aside. She leapt to her feet and shook off her dizziness. She stuck a finger in her wounded stomach and winced. She looked at her finger and saw it covered in crimson blood.

All this time there was still the fight inside the warehouse. She had to help. Samus walked along the porch and peeked left into the door. She could See Tamluk and Mambosa pinned down behind a steel box by laser fire. She ran in and narrowly avoided several shots. She flattened herself down behind a box. She couldn't use her cannon or her missiles so she looked about for a weapon. There was a dead man with black laser marks over his body slumped down next to her. She pulled on the rifle in his hand but it didn't move. She pulled harder and it slid out of his fingers.

Glad that was over with Samus turned her head away from the corpse. The other two had seen her now and shouted over the laser fire from behind their box which had leaves poking out from under its lid.

"Hey Samus, took you long enough! We sure could use your help.", hollered Tamluk in a slightly angry voice before adjusting his gas mask."

"Sorry I ran into problems."

"Well, now that you're here and behind a separate box we can take turns shooting back and drawing their fire."

Samus nodded. It was a good thing they're enemies were too far away to hear what was being said. Samus peaked her head around the left side of the box and holding her new gun shot down two warehouse guards. They turned and fired but she ducked back down behind her box. While they were focused on her Tamluk and Mambosa leapt out and fired at the other guards taking down five more. The remaining guards hid behind a forklift machine. Mambosa charged and hurled a grenade. The grenade explode and took out those who were hiding. Samus charged out as well and wasn't fired upon. She searched behind various objects but it seemed that they had cleared out the area.

Mambosa threw Samus a small black cylinder. She recognized this as the bomb.

"May you do the honors."

"I'm proud to.", replied Samus jokingly. She observed a particularly large box next to one of the central pillars in the building. She placed the bomb on it and it's magnets activated allowing it to stick to the box. Samus pressed a few keys and set the bomb to detonate in 60 seconds.

Tamluk said, "Uh, running time." They all ran out the large door and were heading through the field.

It felt like they were running too long. The bomb should have gone off by now. Samus was wondering whether it would really go off when she heard the deafening explosion. They were all knocked over by the shockwave and a rusted I-beam landed dangerously close behind Samus. They all got back to their feet and noticed that the fields were beginning to catch fire so they began to run again.

It was getting hard to see through all the smoke and Samus was separated from the others. Samus squinted and saw several figures ahead. She expected them to fire on her but they just stood their laughing about pretty colors. The smoke from the plants was making them high! Samus continued running but noticed herself slowing down. Everything also seemed to be kind of off-color. To her horror she realized the smoke was seeping in throught the holes in her suit caused by the spears. She had to get out of there fast. This much smoke from the plants could be deadly.

She entered morphball mode and rolled the rest of the way. This kept any more of the smoke from entering her suit. Within five minutes Samus could see the camoflauge painted ship. She unrolled and walked into the ship, collapsing onto a couch. She received strange looks from everyone else. She was the last one in. She glared at them through her helmet and they looked away. Mambosa continued staring at her.

"What do you want?", shouted Samus. Mambosa almost jumped and then looked at a barren section of wall. Samus was in a sour mood from almost dying.


	13. stupidity

**Wow, I have not updated this story in a while. To anyone who actually reads this, sorry it took so long. I don't know what to think of this chapter. I hope it is good. I noticed that by default anonymous reviews aren't allowed. I changed this so if anyone who isn't logged in is reading this you can leave a review. Anonymous reviews don't bother me. Any review is a good review at this point.**

Samus calmly walked down the corridor as if she wasn't up to anything. She was dressed as a normal human woman with a black t-shirt and jeans. The guards paid her no attention. There was no way she would have been let in wearing her power suit. This was the underground city of Bomuz. It happened to be the center for resistance against the Galactic Federation on the planet. The people just wanted to be left alone in peace but about a decade ago the federation arrived and started demanding uranium and had since conquered most of the surface.

Samus felt a pang of guilt that she had to kill the mayor. He had done nothing wrong unless not supporting the invading federation was a crime. Samus didn't want to spend the rest of her life running again however. She told herself it was for her own good.

As she strolled along she looked at the cave walls. They were beautiful. The walls were a shiny black color with pink crystals jutting out in spots. Before she knew it she had made it to the mayor's office cave without noticing. She rapped three times on the steel bolted door and it slid open. Two guards with shiny badges greeted her.

The one on the left spoke, "You the Sam human?"

"Yes I am. I'm here for an interview.", replied Samus showing the guard a notebook."

"Hrm, well, you don't look so deadly but we be keepin' eyes on you."

"If you'll come wit' us."

Samus nodded. One guard on each side they escorted her into the office. The mayor a thin white-haired man in his seventies sat at his desk absorbed in a pile of papers.

"Sir the Sam is here.", stated the guard on her left.

The mayor looked up and blinked once or twice.

"You're early, well, not that it matters. Any excuse to get away from this paperwork."

Samus smiled and took a seat in a rotating chair.

"It's nice to meet you.", greeted Samus extending her hand. The mayor shook it firmly. Was this the right time to kill him? Those guards seemed to be paying pretty close attention. She would have to move fast.

"Now!", she told herself in her mind. She couldn't bring herself to kill the man. It just seemed wrong.

She didn't want to blow her cover so she began asking the interview questions and pulled out an electronic recorder.

"So, what do you think of the federation using your captured people in the uranium mines?" This was a touchy subect.

The mayor shook his head, "I don't like..." He looked down to see her Samu's pen sticking out of his chest. It had somehow been transformed into a dagger. Samus had pressed the medallion on her necklace and her skin and clothing began to glow as her power armor formed around her. It took a while for the guards to figure out what had just happened and then they shot at her. She dodged both lasers and by the time she rose back up she had fully donned the power armor. The soldiers both turned and bolted out the door. So much for bravery. Samus really didn't fee like it but being witnesses she had to kill the guards. They didn't get far when two shots travelled down the hallway leaving trails of steam and obliterating them.

Samus closed her eyes and waited for her comrades to come and pick her up. It was then that she heard an almost silent crying. She looked around and saw the source of the sound. Looking down she saw a little girl with tears streaming down her face. She had just stepped into the room and was startled to see the mayor dead.

"Grandpa, what's wrong? Wake up!" Samus couldn't bear to look. The little girl reminded her of herself. Just like her she had lost the ones she loved. It then struck Samus and she sank to the floor and cried in anguish, her scream distorted by her helmet. She was no better than the pirates! Just like them she had become an evil murderer. Samus looked up and saw the little girl scurry to the other side of the room and crouch under a wooden table. What had she done?

Samus thought to herself. "I can't let myself continue to live this way. It has to end." She aimed her arm cannon at her head and fired. Nothing happened. She then remembered how advanced the suit was. Chozo suits did not allow their users to commit suicide in such a manner. Samus regained her composure and stood up. It was then that she noticed a hand resting on her shoulder.

It was James, standing there with a grim look on his face.

"You know what you have to do.", he stated in a clear voice. Samus was confused at first but then she realized what he meant. He wanted her to kill the girl! Samus looked and saw the little girl staring at them in fear and rubbing her eyes.

"No, she's innocent.", stuttered Samus, still shaking.

"She's seen us both. Our identities are to remain secret so we can't be tied to the federation. Must I remind you that the federation has the power to kill us all if we don't satisfy the commanders."

"No one will know. She's just a little girl. Enough innocent people have already died."

"I see.", said James, pulling out his own gun. In a blur, Samus acted by leaping in front of James as he squeezed off three bullets intended for the girl. Two of the bullets glanced off of her armor. The third however, hit its mark, silencing the young girl. Samus regained her balance and cursed.

"I don't believe I didn't see it before. You speak of serving the federation commanders so you can survive. You are in bed with them", accused Samus charging her arm cannon. To her surprise, James laughed.

"Ooh, you got me, nope. I've always been with the federation. I understand that they bring peace and stability wherever they go. I was made the commander of your little group for the sole purpose of making sure runts like you don't get to uppity." As he was talking, Samus shot her charged beam into his stomache and knocked the man over. She closed her eyes to take in all that had just happened. She reopened them when she heard a shuffling noise.

To her astonishment James was standing back up. How was it possible? He should have been disentigrated. There was a hole going into his stomach yet he stood tall and proud as if nothing had happened. The hole in his stomach revealed a strange assortment of machinery built into his body.

"Wha... What are you some kind of freak monster?"

"Heh, heh, you haven't seen anything. I'll show you how much of a monster I truly am." Samus took a step backward as the man's eyes glowed red. It was a strange sight. His limbs stretched, increasing his height until he had to stoop down to fit in the room. His muscles swelled to ten times there size while wires and other mechanical bits pushed out of his skin. All the while he was laughing as Samus shot missile after missile at him, removing bits of flesh and metal. It was like he couldn't feel the pain.

To complete his horrible transformation his hands suddenly exploded, showering Samus in blood and revealing two wicked, robotic claws. The James monster grinned and then charged at Samus. She leaped to the side and over a table as he ran past and into a wall, knocking a hole through it and into another room. He looked around and gurgled a scream. He had plowed right through into the city's marketplace. So much for secrecy. There was a ruckus as the people around him screamed and fled.

Samus chased after him into the market, rapidly emptying her missiles into him. The impact sent him backward but he quickly recovered. He ran away to the right, startling merchants trying to sell their wares. Samus smiled as she actually had him on the run. She had to stop though. James swept his arms through a crowd he had charged into. Breathing heavily, he held a woman and a scaled alien out in front of him in his claws. Wherever Samus aimed her cannon, he quickly matched her movement by changing the position of his hostages. Samus didn't want to spill any more innocent blood and he knew it.

She knew she couldn't shoot so she rolled into her morphball and moved speedily toward the monstrosity's feet. Growling in frustration he threw both of his hostages at the approaching Samus. The alien missed and flew right into a brick wall. The woman however, flew head on into Samus, causing her to skid backward and forcing her to unroll back into her human form. Before she had a chance to move, James had his right claw under Samus's helmet and was pushing her along the floor. She went dizzy and almost lost consciousness when her head collided with a wall. James towered over her and reached forward again with his claws. He was stopped in his tracks as one of her charged beams made it into his stomach making some spinning mechanism inside him explode. He clutched his gut and stumbled backward.

He was instantly greeted in his back by energy shots. He spun around and saw a group of guards clad in black firing at him. He bowled into them with his massive form and sent them spinning and screaming through the air in all directions. He turned back around to finish Samus but she wasn't there. He then felt a tug on his back. She was behind him! Samus grunted as she yanked on an electrical cord running in and out of his back. Her hands were going numb from the electricity but she continued because she saw how much pain it caused to James. He reached back with his claws but couldn't reach her.

There was a metallic screech and the wire came out of his back as Samus fell backward. She stared in amazement at the horrible wound in his back. The floor was flooded with his lost blood but he still stood. Samus prepared to continue the battle but she was caught off guard by an intense barrage of lasers hitting her from behind. She toppled over as most of her suit's systems shut down. She realized that her suit could barely move at all. There were just little twitches in the arms and fingers. She didn't really stand a chance like this. She looked out of the corner of her visor and saw James running for the soldiers. "What, he's actually helping me?" She watched in curiosity as he tore through the soldiers. He then turned around and grinned at Samus. "Oh, no, he wants to kill me himself. He slowly walked toward her with his thundering steps. Samus barely managed to lift her arm and get off a shot before it fell back down beside her.

The shot's aim was true though. The yellow orb tore into his wounded arm and finished it off. His arm actually fell off below the elbow, leaving a stump. James cradled his arm and then gave a sour look at Samus. She would pay for this! He stomped over and stooped over Samus. She tried to exit her suit. If she could get out of the suit she might be able to run away. She wept as she realized the suit wouldn't respond.

James placed his face inches from her helmet and spoke.

"Ha, little Samus, so funny. You are like the others with their ideals, and plans. So pathetic and naive. You actually thought you could win. When I have killed hundreds just like you." He lifted her by the neck using his remaining claw and moved her about in the air inspecting her armor. Samus shook her arms back and forth frantically but the armor wouldn't budge. James laughed at this and stuck his claw under her helmet, pulling.

There was a horrific sound as the metal strained and twisted before the helmet popped off. This revealed Samus's face with her eyes closed and wincing from the pain in her ears. James then clanked his remaining claw open and shut in front of Samus's face.

"Heh, I will peel your face off!" He reached the claw for her nose but Samus spat at him.

"Insolence! You will die slowly." He pounded on her chest, knocking the wind out of her despite the thick armor. He held her cannon arm and began to twist when three bullets sped deep into his back. He spun on one foot which was strange to see for something so big.

"Who's there?", he demanded of the seemingly empty market. A figure wearing a black cloak emerged from behind a pile of toppled boxes containing everything from exotic fish to womens' clothing. Samus smiled. It was Tamluk.

"None other than your humble servant.", responded Tamluk sarcastically.

James screamed, "What is wrong with you? Now you have to die too." He charged at Tamluk but lost his balance when Adam ran in through the entrance and emptied many blue balls of energy into him. He flipped and skidded into a box which then broke and covered him in a pile of salt. He leapt up and began running around blindly, while shaking and and screaming obscenities. The salt had gotten into his wounds. Samus stifled a laugh and then noticed something very important.

Her suit was making a faint whirring noise. She moved her right arm and sure enough the suit was back online. She stretched her sore limbs and then calmly walked over to the frantic James. He was paying so much attention to his pain he didn't notice Samus until her arm cannon was stuck deep into the wound in his back. It was too late for him to do anything. Samus let go of her charged beam and it wreaked its havoc. What followed would be best described as a very disgusting explosion. Samus looked away from the smoking remains that used to be James and closed her eyes. He had seemed like such a nice man. Samus shuffled her feet toward Tamluk and Adam while looking at the ground. They seemed to be as shocked as she was when she explained what had happened.

"The others might have a hard time believing this. We should tell them that James died, helping you complete the mission.", suggested Adam. Samus nodded in agreement. She wanted everyone to know what James had done but she decided that Adam was right. Without a word they all began walking away from the scene of destruction. Tamluk and Adam both let Samus rest her arms on their shoulders for balance as they walked.

Samus heard a faint sound and realized that it was crying. She withdrew her arms from their resting positions and looked about.

"What's wrong?", questioned Adam, sounding concerned.

"I hear crying." Samus followed the noise. She neared the hole in the cavern wall and smiled. She had just realized it was the little girl. She was still alive! Samus climbed over some rubble and stopped in her tracks. The girl was curled into a ball next to her dead grandfather. Her leg was horribly bloodied. The sight flooded Samus with emotions. She was relieved to see her alive but at the same time was ashamed of all that had happened. She knew it was all her fault. There were so many alternatives to killing the man. She could purposely lost the mission. Things could have gone so differently. The mayor would still be alive and the girl would still have her grandfather. Samus just stood unmoving.

Samus thought silently. "How could I be so cruel to take this man's life. He had a life and a family. He actually knew his purpose. More than can be said about me. I'm supposed to be the chosen one, a protector of what is right. I'm so horrible. I've betrayed all that I am. It should have been me who died." She noticed that she had said the last sentence out loud. Looking behind her she saw Adam staring at her but he looked away when she turned around.

"Oh, well, I don't care what he thinks of me anyway." Samus returned to her sad thoughts of worthlessness. While she mumbled to herself Tamluk lifted the girl and comforted her. The girl knew he meant for her well being and didn't scream despite his fierce appearance. He glanced at Samus and then walked away to take the girl to the hospital. After thinking for a few seconds Adam followed.

He caught up with Tamluk and was greeted by his mechanically distorted voice.

"I can handle the trip to the hospital. You go back to Samus. She may need comfort and someone has to make sure she doesn't try... uh, anything." Adam slowed to a stop and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I understand."

"Oh, and Adam, if she doesn't want to talk about it, don't press the matter."

"Okay." Adam then walked back to where Samus was, distracting his mind from the recent events by thinking about anything else at all.


End file.
